[Ads-l] Antedating of Jamboree

[Wilson Gray]

> Blow me

Back in the '70's, I knew an Englishwoman who used this as her common
exclamation.

> vinegar on beets makes them fine to eat

That's true, it does, though, in my family, onion slices were sometimes
included in the recipe.

On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 2:19 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:

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



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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