{"id":7264,"date":"2020-11-28T11:40:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-28T11:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=7264"},"modified":"2024-03-16T08:58:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T08:58:33","slug":"billy-johnsons-ball","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/billy-johnsons-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Johnson’s Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1870<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/composer<\/td>GW Hunt<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN2139<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fred Coyne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Reilly, Peter 1952 N. Ireland : Armagh
Stoddard, Sandy 1952 Canada : Nova Scotia
Moss, Barney 1965 Canada : Newfoundland
Hartland, Ray 1978 England : Gloucestershire
Smith, Bill 1979 England : Shropshire
Hartland, Ray 1980 England : Gloucestershire
Fradley, George 1984 England : Derbyshire
Jordan, Fred 1994 England : Shropshire
Modern performances<\/strong>
Puzzlejug
John Kirkpatrick<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
Billy Johnson had been married\nJust a twelvemonth and a day,\nWhen he sent his friends some letters,\nIn which he went to say,\nAs how about just two months since,\nA baby had been sent,\nSo he'd give a ball to celebrate\nThe glorious event.\n\nLar dar de dar and doodle doodle diddle,\nThey played upon the fiddle and went up and down the middle.\nSuch jolly boys and pretty girls enough to please you all,\nA reg'lar brilliant sort of spree, was Billy Johnson's ball.<\/em>\n\nThere were the Jones-es-es and the Brownes'es\nAnd the Smith-es-es a score,\nThe Spriggins-es, the Scoggins-es,\nAnd half a dozen more;\nIn Billy's room there wasn't room,\nTo dance a decent jig,\nSo he went and took a big one\nAt 'The Tinder Box and Pig'\n\n[SPOKEN] An efficient band was provided, consisting of a fiddle, a tin whistle and a jew's harp and they played...\n\nThey introduced the baby,\nAnd we kissed it twice all round,\nMrs. Johnson was quite 'overcome',\nFell fainting to the ground.\nBut they 'brought her to' with water,\nAnd 'a drop of something in',\nAnd when she 'felt herself' again,\nThe dancing did begin.\n\nIn and out and round about,\nSuch a Ball was never seen,\nAnd every now and then,\nWe'd 'a drop to drink between',\nBilly Johnson he got dancing,\nWith all the girls he'd find,\nMrs. Johnson she grew jealous,\nAnd declared he 'unkind'.\n\n[SPOKEN: I make it a rule never to interfere in family quarrels, so I chose a lovely creature in red and yellow and we glided into the...]\n\nI drank 'love' to the Joneses,\nI drank 'love' to the browns,\nI tried to keep on dancing but\n'Twas somehow 'ups and downs',\nTo tell you how it ended,\nI really am not able,\nFor I found myself next morning\nLying underneath the table.\n\n[SPOKEN: I felt rather confused till a friend reminded me that I had been doing the...]\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
A big hit in the 1870s remembered by a number of traditional singers on both sides of the Atlantic.  Over the years it has come to vary widely – you can find English, Irish and American versions.  It’s also known as: Mrs Merry’s Ball<\/em>, and Tommy Suet’s Ball<\/em>.  It was  widely printed and survives in the form of 19th-century broadsides and songsters on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The first reference to the song being sung (that I can find so far) was by Fred Coyne at The Music Hall Provident Societies Annual Fete held in early July 1871. Coyne and the author, GW Hunt<\/a>,  were keen to stamp their ownership on it. The following notice was posted in several editions of The Era<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Era July 30 1871<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Subsequent reports show that it was an important part of Coyne’s repertoire in the early 1870s, and also quickly passed into the repertoire of amateur singers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(At the moment I don’t have all the information I need to write a satisfactory short biography of Fred Coyne – he was a very well known character but is not well covered in the standard histories of the Halls. It’s on my list!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As John Kirkpatrick sings it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n