Hi and Happy Friday.
I just watched a news story about AI dating apps. After the match is made a trained AI chatbot goes on a virtual “first date” for you. Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad sign for society???
Anyway, on to my post.
This week I’m sharing a practice recording of the song “Sam Hall” which we plan to perform at our Irish shows next weekend. The song tells the tale of a chimney sweeper turned burglar who is on his way to be hanged for his crimes. I loved it the first time I heard the Dubliners version of it a few years back. I recently did some research on the song’s origin—there is a LONG history here. Someday maybe I’ll write a book but for now here’s a condensed version. The audio clip includes a minute of banter…mostly me and Pete Smith (apparently Pete did his own research!). The song kicks in around the one minute mark.
The song is actually based on true events about a young man named Jack Hall. The earliest mention of the song is 1719. Legend has it that when he was a young lad Jack’s parents sold him for a guinea to become a chimney sweeper. My impression is that the job has little in common with the happy sweepers from Mary Poppins (thinking Dick Van Dyke’s character, Bert). It would be more than a hundred years before Charles Dickens started writing books about the plight of the British underclass…Oliver Twist and the like.…sooty faced folks barely getting by in a newly industrialized urban environment. Apparently kids often did the work and they were also called chimney climbers, meaning they crawled up inside to get the job done. I don’t like to make excuses for people, but I can understand why someone might turn to a life of crime. Unfortunately for Jack the punishment for theft meant the gallows.
I’m getting most of my information from an article published in 1942 in the California Folklore Quarterly. The article traces the song through many changes. Apparently a Scottish minstrel singer named W.C. Ross had great success with the song in the 1840s in London. This original version had the lines, “I hate you all” and “Damn your eyes” at the end of each verse, and apparently Ross laced his version with much more vulgar language that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. I am familiar with this version through Johnny Cash’s recording. The poet Carl Sandburg has a rendition with variations of these lyrics. The field researcher Alan Lomax also recorded renditions which feature the voice of this unrepentant and surly Jack Hall.
There is evidence that around the 1850s in America lyrics show up with “Sam Hall” not “Jack” as the protagonist. Around this time the Irish were suffering from the Potato Famine and thousands of Irish immigrants were pouring in to NYC. Maybe they brought a version of “Sam Hall” with them? Apparently the song was sung by Civil War soldiers. This version, which is close to the one we play, features a different voice—I would not say he is repentant but he accepts his fate. You still get the sense he’d do it again. And the 2nd verse (which I bungled in this recording) states that “I’d rob for 20 more…the rich must hep the poor and so must I” which paints our young burglar as more of a Robin Hood type. Either way it seems like the song fits well with the sympathy for the outcasts and the downtrodden—and we all feel like that sometimes! I honestly can’t seem to find how the “Irish version” came to be, but the English version has the hanging in Tyburn…the Irish moved it to “Cootehill”. The band The Irish Descendants have a wonderful a Capella version—check it out. Listening to this version makes me want to do a proper recording of our own.
I recently did some research on another one of my favorite folk songs…”Froggy Went a Courtin’". Turns out Froggy dates all the way back to the 1600s, maybe older. Came from Scotland. Singing these old songs makes me feel somehow more connected, like I’m part of something bigger—a great tradition of human beings trying to figure out our humanity, all the greatness and all the loss that goes along with it.
Have a great weekend!
Here’s our schedule next week where we’ll be performing songs like “Sam Hall” along with some of our own like “Dig Boys” for example..
Thanks for reading!
- Mick
3/15 Fri. Hob Tavern Bordentown, NJ, 9:00 - 11:00
3/16 Sat. Death of the Fox Brewery Clarksboro, NJ 1:00 - 4:00
3/16 Sat. Tirnanog, Hamilton, NJ, 7:00 - 11:00
3/17 Sat. Killarney’s Publick House, Hamilton, NJ 3:00 - 6:00
Sam Hall Oh, my name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep, chimney sweep Oh, my name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep Oh, my name it is Sam Hall, and I've robbed both great and small And my neck will pay for all, when I die, when I die And my neck will pay for all, when I die I have 20 pounds in store, that's not all, that's not all I have 20 pounds in store, that's not all I have 20 pounds in store, and I'll rob for twenty more For the rich must help the poor, so must I, so must I For the rich must help the poor, so must I Oh, they brought me to Cootehill in a cart, in a cart Oh, they brought me to Cootehill in a cart Oh, they brought me to Cootehill, there I stopped to make my will For the best of friends must part, so must I, so must I For the best of friends must part, so must I Up the ladder I did grope, that's no joke, that's no joke Up the ladder I did grope, that's no joke Up the ladder I did grope, and the hangman pulled the rope Oh, and ne'er a word I spoke, tumblin' down, tumblin' down Oh, and ne'er a word I spoke, tumblin' down
Sam Hall