Dead Songs in Depth

    
Peggy-O
w&m: traditional
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/PEGGYO.HTM
  

    
Peggy-O 
Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

As we rode out to Fennario
As we rode out to Fennario
Our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove
And he called her by name pretty Peggy-O

Will you marry me, pretty Peggy-O
Will you marry me, pretty Peggy-O
If you will marry me, I will set your cities free
And free all the ladies in the area-O

I would marry you, sweet William-O
I would marry you, sweet William-O
I would marry you, but your guineas are too few
And I feel my mother would be angry-O

What would your mother think, pretty Peggy-O
What would your mother think, pretty Peggy-O
What would your mother think when she hears the guineas clink
And saw me marching at the head of my soldiers-O

If ever I return, pretty Peggy-O
If ever I return, pretty Peggy-O
If ever I return, all your cities I will burn
Destroy all the ladies in the area-O

Come stepping down the stairs, pretty Peggy-O
Come stepping down the stairs, pretty Peggy-O
Come stepping down the stairs, combing back your yellow hair
And bid a last farewell to young Willie-O

Sweet William he is dead, pretty Peggy-O
Sweet William he is dead, pretty Peggy-O
Sweet William he is dead, and he died for a maid
And buried in the Louisiana country-O
  

    



Jim Fronk writes:


I was wondering what time period, if any, this song may be for. It is clear
that William was British, he had guinea's in his pocket. I had a feeling it
was  The War of 1812 so I pulled out the National Geographic Atlas of
American History and found the British occupied New Orleans in December of
1814. This was the battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson defeated the British
led by Sir Edward Peckenham who died in the battle,our captain he is dead.
For more info go to:     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans

Also the name Peggy-O reminds me of David Copperfield's maid Peggotty any
idea if this where Peggy-O came from?


'
  

    
Jim Fronk needs to be on the Well, I'm enjoying his contributions
here!!! 
  

    
The song's origins are originally Scottish, I believe. It derives from
a Scottish song "The Bonnie Lass O'Fyvie." There's some info at
http://www.whitegum.com/~acsa/songfile/PEGGYO.HTM - mostly drawn from
the very informative article "Folk Songs and Allusions to Folk Songs in
the Repertoire of the Grateful Dead" by Josephine A. McQuail, availble
at:
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/McQuail_De
ad_01.html
  

    


Jim Fronk writes:

> Thanks Alan for your informative references about the origin of this song.
> It is important to note that in the previous versions The Soldier will
> destroy the city if the maid will not marry him. In the Dylan/Dead version
> Sweet William will save their city if Peggy-O marries him as if their city
> is already doomed. The Dylan lyrics are the first I can find to put the
> setting in Louisiana. This may loosely alude to the war of 1812 as the
> British raided and burned Baltimore and D.C.
  

    

Listening to a 1960 album by Tossi Aaron, "Tossi Sings Folk Songs and
Ballads," sent to me by Eric Levy.  This version is VERY close to the version
the GD did, but there are some interesting differences.

For one thing, Aaron sings "Fernario," not "fennario."

Also: she sings "Come trippin' down the stair," where Jerry sang "steppin'."
  

    
Heck. Trippin' would've been so much better!
I wonder if Garcia owned this album. He must have.
How can we find out, I wonder?
  

    

I emailed Bob Weir to ask him if either he or Jerry knew of Tossi Aaron.
He asked me to send him the audio files of the two songs, which I did.  He
the replied:


>I never heard these recordings, but they were typical of the current
>versions of these songs at the time of their release. I heard
>folkies doing these songs this way back in the early 60's, though
>1960 was a bit before my time. Sounds like Tossi Aaron could have
>been an early inspiration for Joan Baez.
>
>Jerry could have picked up his versions of these tunes from these or
>any of a number of other similar versions.
>
>Cheers,
>Weir
  

    
David--how amazing to have such an instantaneous response. Thanks!
  

    
Really!