Gallows Pole, The Intended edited post!

[PajLvr@xxxxxxx]

Tim Druck writes: 

Led Zeppelin III
Gallows Pole  (Traditional)
Hats Off To (Roy) Harper (Traditional)

By my count,  "Black Mountain Side," "Gallows Pole," and "Hats Off To (Roy)
Harper" are  traditional songs of unknown lineage and therefore are  credited
correctly.  

<end quote>

PajLvr writes  :

While this song (GALLOWS POLE)  is known/credited as "Traditional"  and as to 
"who" actually wrote it, is anyone guess. However the song dates back  at 
least too 1770, or that is the earliest known date. It has taken many titles  
thru the yrs. but the message is pretty much the same....

The STORY at the bottom is the most interesting tho!

This is something I've been meaning to post for several  yrs now, but just 
now getting round to it.(I have a notebook with tons of  notes round here 
somewhere..I need to find, as they actually contain more  info...and  Actually 
this 
is just a tiny portion!!! You will find, if you  go looking thru "Folk Song" 
books, websites, or rather Origins of...you will  find A LOT of info. I found 
some info. on "Black Waterside" and or variations  thereof,  as well.

However editing it into something that can be  posted here will take me, haha 
many more years. Luckily the info. below, was  found online at the address I 
have provided. As you probably know..as I saw that  my post DID go 
thru..again, sorry about that..it's the one titled "NO  SUBJECT"...if you 
actually go to 
the site and look for this song. There is a lot  to read and most of it will 
mean nothing to you anyway. In the "edited version"  I have provided mainly the 
pertinent info. only. I.E. the many variations and  titles of the song 
itself. If you go to the site, you really have to scroll  around and look for 
the 
different titles  etc..

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/BalladIndex.html#C095

DESCRIPTION:  A (woman) is about to be hanged. If she could pay her fee, she 
would be freed.  One by one, father, brother, (and other family members) come 
to see her hanged,  refusing to ransom her. Then her sweetheart arrives to 
rescue her
 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1770 (Percy collection, according to Child)
FOUND IN:  Britain(Scotland,England(North,South,West)) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) 
Bahamas  Jamaica

****Note : Lead Belly, "The Gallis Pole" (Musicraft 227,  rec.  1939)
****Note : Silber-FSWB, p.  211, "The Gallows Pole" (1  text)
****Note : Darling-NAS, pp. 69-71, "The Hangman";  "Gallows Pole"  (2 texts, 
the first 
"modernized" by Darling)

****OTHER***ALTERNATE  TITLES:
The Golden Ball
The Prickilie Bush
The  Gallows  Pole
Granny and the Golden Ball
 
See The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)
 
Among the  many diff. titles to the song over the yrs....
 
Hangman, Hangman
Hangman, Slack on the Line
Hangman, Slack Up Your  Rope
Hangman's Song, The
Hangman's Tree, The


Notes: This very  popular ballad is  identical in plot with "Gallows" [Laws 
L11], and  lumping editors will lump them;  individual collections should be  
checked carefully.

Scarborough notes that  southern Blacks  turned this song into drama -- in a 
rather depressing way: The  magical  ball could be used to turn a Black girl 
into a pretty White. -   RBW
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
ALSO :
 
Gallows [Laws L11]
 
DESCRIPTION: A young man is to be hanged. His family and a clergyman  
contrive a few minutes delay by each asking for a last word. Just before the 
boy  is 
to be hanged, his true love arrives with a royal pardon and he is saved

AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Barry, Ecksotm,  Smyth)
KEYWORDS: execution reprieve
FOUND IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland

REFERENCES (9 citations):
 
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Streets of Derry

Notes: Kennedy, following Barry, speculates that this was based on an  
incident during the 1798 Irish rebellion. The only real supporting evidence is 
a  
reference to King George (which, for all it directly proves, could date it to  
the 1916 rebellion; in any case, Britain had a King named George every year 
from  1714 to 1839), and in any case the reference to King George in not found 
in 
many  versions, where it is the Queen who offers the pardon.
Barry et all state  unequivocally that the song is Irish. This is likely 
enough, but there are only  a handful of Irish collections (Sam Henry's, and 
Sarah 
Makem sang it); the rest  are all North American. It's just possible that the 
song originated in North  America and crossed back.
All agree that this was inspired by "The Maid Freed  from the Gallows," but 
the form clearly makes it a separate ballad.
Peter  Kennedy lists the Sam Henry version of this piece as from 1924, but it 
was not  published until 1937. - RBW
File: LL11

-Von



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