[Ads-l] Antedating of Jamboree

[Andy Bach]

Huh.  While I'd guess:
“'What ails my Love?’ asked Glorianna, regarding his face for the first
time; 'whence come these bruised cheeks, those bloody nose, this puffy lip
and ensanguined mug? Blow me if I don’t think you’ve been on a jamboree!'”

could just mean "been on a toot" or bender or something, I wondered what
"vinegar shoes and paper stockings"  could be. Another version of the song,
with "tambourine" instead of "jamboree" - still doesn't rhyme - and a
couple  of "Civil War poems" or "plantation songs" use the line but no hint
as to what it means.

Vinegar Shoes and Paper Stockings.

I went down to New Orleans,
I thought myself a man,
I'jumped upon" the bully boat
They call the Tallyvan.

Chorus.
Pick a tambourine, pick a tambourine,
Vinegar shoes and paper stockings, get up, old horse'

Yes, I jumped upon the boat,
And looked all around.
The engineer he whooped her up,
And run the boat aground.-Chorus.

I histed up the dishrag,
I sot it to the breeze;
It floated just like t'other.
Like another half a cheese.-Chorus.

The big dog he bow wowed,
And bristled up his back;
He thought he saw the pussy
Peekin' through a crack.-Chorus.

The old man loaded his gun,.
I pulled the trigger;
Slam, bang, went the gun.
And down came a nigger.-Chorus.

The captain's on the quarter deck,
A scratchin' of his head,
And jawing of the nigger
That's heavin' on the lead.-Chorus.

<http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/songster/pdf/10-vinegar-shoes-and-paper-stockings-song-lyrics.pdf>

Away down South in de fields of cotton,
Cinnamonseed and sandy bottom;
Look away, look away,
Look away, look away,
Den 'way down South in de fields of cotton,
Vinegar shoes and  paper stockings;

Versions like that go on to mention vinegar on beets makes them fine to eat
and some sound like "Dixie Land."

There "Way down South, in Alabama"
Vinegar shoes and paper stockings,
Set to me Miss Polly Hopkins;
My missus dead, and I'm a widder,
All de way from Ravin river
'Way down South, in de Alabama
Ou ah! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, ah! faddle um de day!


On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 2:26 PM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Etymonline.com lists 1866, Merriam Webster online lists 1861,
> Oxforedictinoaries.com lists mid-19th Century.  All sources refer to it as
> an Americanism.  Etymonline suggests possible derivation from jam (crowd)
> influenced by shivaree, a variant of Charivari, a noisy post-wedding party
> frequently involving tin-horns and banging tin-plates, a precursor to the
> tin-cans on the back of the get-away car.
>
>
> 1850: Pittsburgh Daily Post, July 3, 1850, page 2.  Song title in a
> listing of songs in an advertisement for White's New Ethiopian Song Book,
> "Whoop! Jam-bo-ree!".
>
>
> A copy of that songbook, apparently unchanged (with original pagination),
> is wholly found within a later published collection songbooks.  The
> collection is on HathiTrust, and entitled Christy's and White's Ethiopian
> Melodies, comprising the Melodeon Song Book, Plantation Melodies, Ethiopian
> Song Book, Serenader's Song Book and Christy and Wood's New Song Book,
> Philadelphia, T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1854.
>
>
> The song title in the book suggests a western origin, and possible
> African-American origin:
>
>
> "Whoop, Jam-bo-ree. - Jig. As sung by the original Dan Emmett, (in
> imitation of the western boatmen,) at White's Melodoen."
>
>
> The lyrics do not give much insight into its intended meaning.  The first
> verse and chorus are, "I went down to New Orleans, I tink myself a man, De
> first place I fotched up was on board de Talleyrann. Chorus: Whoop,
> jam-bo-ree! Whoop, jam-bo-ree! Vinegar shoes and paper stockings, Git up!
> ole hoss!"
>
>
> The word was in use in Cleveland in 1854 to refer to a party hosted by a
> firehose company.  It appears in a collection of Cleveland newspaper
> abstracts compiled in the 1930s.
>
>
> The Annals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland W.P.A. Project;
> distributed by the Cleveland Public Library, 1936, page 119:
>
>
> "FCD [Forest City Democrat (original name of the Cleveland Leader)] Jan.
> 7, 1854: 3/1 – The boys of the Hope fire company No. 8 are going to have a
> big time at their jamboree on Jan. 12, and national hall will be crowded to
> overflowing.  They expect to realize enough from this festival to make a
> substantial payment toward the purchase of a new engine which will cost
> about $2,500."
>
> [END]
>
>
> By 1861, the word could be used to refer to a fist-fight or scuffle.
>
>
> Vanity Fair, December 28, 1861:
>
>
> “'What ails my Love?’ asked Glorianna, regarding his face for the first
> time; 'whence come these bruised cheeks, those bloody nose, this puffy lip
> and ensanguined mug? Blow me if I don’t think you’ve been on a jamboree!'”
> [END]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org