{"id":12216,"date":"2021-08-19T09:01:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T09:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=12216"},"modified":"2021-08-19T09:15:23","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T09:15:23","slug":"jessie-the-belle-at-the-bar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/jessie-the-belle-at-the-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessie the belle at the bar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Jessie the belle at the railway bar
The Trainman’s Song
Courting Jessie<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1866<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>George Ware<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN3265<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Annie Adams, Henri Clark, Fred French, George Leybourne, Harry Liston, Mrs FR Phillips, Alfred Vance, George Ware, Mrs George Ware<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Roberts, Samuel; Canada : Newfoundland; 1920
Duvall, Miss Leone; USA : Missouri; 1927
Willis, Charles; Canada : Newfoundland; 1929
Horne, Frank; Canada : Nova Scotia; 1955
Estey, Joseph R.; Canada : New Brunswick; 1960
Clark, LaRena; Canada : Ontario; 1961
Estey, Joseph (Snr.); Canada : New Brunswick; 1961
Burke, Brendan; Ireland : Co. Galway; 1987 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Lyrics from National Library of Scotland Broadside (verses) and Sheet Music (choruses)*\n\n'Twas at the Brighton station,\nIn pursuit of my vocation,\nI saw a tall and handsome girl\nBehind the railway bar;\nI heard some one call her Jessie\nPerhaps 'twas Mister Pond, the lessee,\nAnd her diamond eyes were twinkling\nJust like the evening star.\nI found this pretty dame\nMade love to all that came,\nIn a quiet sort of way,\nWith her eyes so soft and bright;\nShe had lovers half-a-score,\nAlways some one to adore,\nFrom the first train in the morning,\nTill the last train out at night.\n\n[Spoken] Yes, her admirers were ...\nA tinker and a tailor, and a soldier and a sailor,\nAnd a swell that used to talk about his pa and his ma,\nA butcher and a baker, and a quiet-looking Quaker,\nAll courted pretty Jessie at the railway bar.<\/em>\n\nNow this darling little creature,\nWith a smile on every feature,\nWas serving all the customers\nWith wine and bitter beer;\nAnd this was on a Monday,\nSo I asked her if, on Sunday,\nShe would meet me in the Green Park,\nWhen she gave me such a leer.\nAnd then she said to me,\n\"Most happy I should be,\nBut I'm sorry to inform you\nThat it's not my Sunday out.\nOne Sunday out of nine\nIs the only one that's mine,\"\nAnd then she had to leave me\nJust to serve a glass of stout.\n\n[Spoken] Yes, but she never informed me that she had on previous Sundays walked out with ..\nA tinker and a tailor, and a soldier and a sailor,\nAnd a swell that used to talk about his pa and his ma,\nA butcher and a baker, and a quiet-looking Quaker,\nHad all been out with Jessie at the railway bar.<\/em>\n\nWell, better late than never,\nAnd I thought that I was clever,\nTo get Jessie, dear, to meet me\nWhen it was her Sunday out;\nWith my hair curled and anointed,\nAt the time and place appointed,\nI was there to the minute,\nAnd began to look about.\nAnd when my Jessie came\nMy heart was in a flame.\nWhen I saw her waterfall,\nAnd her bonnet trimmed so gay;\nShe politely took my arm\nI admired her every charm,\nBut judge of my surprise\nWhen I heard some urchins say?\n\n[Spoken] I say, Bill, if there ain't Jessie along wi' another\nchap; why, I've seen her with...\nA tinker and a tailor, and a soldier and a sailor,\nAnd a swell that used to talk about his pa and his ma,\nA butcher and a baker, and a quiet-looking Quaker,\nAnd I've seen her serving beer out at the railway bar.<\/em>\n\nNow, my confidence was shaken\nBut I thought the boys mistaken,\nAnd my modesty would not permit\nTo ask if it was true.\nI proposed and she accepted,\nIn a manner unaffected,\nThe tears she shed completely hid\nFrom me her eyes so blue.\nThen I sent her a wedding dress.\nFit for an Empress,\nAnd saw the porter give it her\nWhile serving at the bar;\nBut on our wedding day\nMiss Jessie ran away,\nAnd got married to a man that sold\nThe Standard and the Star.\n\n[Spoken] Yes, and the only consolation I had was, she had taken in, besides myself...\nA tinker and a tailor, and a soldier and a sailor,\nAnd a swell that used to talk about his pa and his ma,\nA butcher and a baker, and a quiet-looking Quaker,\nWere taken in by Jessie at the railway bar.<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
*Street literature versions often suggest that the first chorus is used unchanged throughout, but the American sheet music has a varying chorus as given here. My instinct is that the version with the changing chorus is likely to be earlier, but if you decide to sing it, the choice is of course yours! <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sung by a dizzying number of Music Hall performers, Jessie the Belle<\/em> regularly featured in the adverts for Sheard publishers in 1866-68. Unlike their other most popular songs, this one was not advertised as being sung by a particular star, instead it was advertised as being performed by “everybody” or “all”.  The version I have produced here starts at Brighton station, others start at Moorgate, Harlem or even a generic “railway” or “railroad station”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to be confused with Harry Clifton’s The Railway Belle<\/a><\/em> (V20273) which has similar themes but sees the object of affection running off with a railway guard. It’s been suggested these songs reflect a growing uneasiness about the greater independence of women in this period.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Reports of amateur performances in local newspapers suggest that it may have been popular for a short while in the late 1860s and then again in the early 1890s, but this may reflect gaps in the record.  The song was widely printed in cheap 19th-century street literature (broadsheets and songsters) on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been widely collected from traditional singers, particularly in North America, although there is evidence that it has been popular in England, Ireland and Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is Joseph R. Estey of Sevogle, New Brunswick singing it (as collected by Helen Creighton in 1960):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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