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Jordan

[ Roud 2103 ; Ballad Index R305 ; Daniel Decatur Emmett / trad. arr. Frankie Armstrong]

Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote Jordan in the 1850s. Peter, Paul & Mary sang this song with the title Old Coat in 1963 on their second LP, Moving.

Frankie Armstrong sang it as Jordan with quite different verses in 1971 on the LP accompanying Roy Palmer's book Room for Company. This recording was also included on the CD reissue of her Topic album Lovely on the Water. Roy Palmer commented in his book:

This curious song, with its rollicking and defiant humour, was used to make political and social comment and a variety of jokes. This version seems to date from the 1850s or early '60s, because of its reference to the campaigns against slavery in America which were going on at that time.

and Frankie Armstrong added to this:

The text comes from a broadside and the tune sung “by an old labourer now dead”, collected by Baring-Gould in Holcombe Burnell, North Devon.

Bellowhead learnt Jordan from Frankie Armstrong's album and recorded it in 2006 for their CD Burlesque and Jon Boden sang it as the August 24, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. They commented in their sleeve notes:

From the American white minstrel movement, this was written by Daniel Decatur Emmett who was also responsible for Dixie, Old Joe Clark and The Blue-Tailed Fly. Published in America in 1853, it travelled quickly to England where it was printed on a number of broadside ballad sheets which contain new references to the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858. Sabine Baring-Gould, song collector and author of Onward Christian Soldiers, took two English oral versions from Thomas Darke and Sam Fone of Holcombe Burnell, Devon, in the 1880-90s.

These can be found in Sabine Baring-Gould, Garland of Country Song, London: Methuen, 1895, pp. 22-25, and Roy Palmer, Room for Company, Cambridge: CUP, 1972, pp. 24-35, both out of print. (…) The broadsides are in the Madden Collection in Cambridge and the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

Lyrics

Peter, Paul & Mary sing Old Coat

Chorus (after each verse):

Take off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Life is a hard road to travel, I believe.

I look to the east, I look to the west,
A youth asking fate to be rewardin'.
But fortune is a blind god, flying through the clouds,
And forgettin' me on this side of Jordan.

Silver spoons to some mouths, golden spoons to others,
Dare a man to change the given order.
Though they smile and tell us all of us are brothers,
Never was it true this side of Jordan.

Like some ragged owlet with its wings expanded,
Nailed to some garden gate or boardin'.
Thus will I by some men all my life be branded
Never hurted none this side of Jordan.

Frankie Armstrong sings Jordan

I looked in the east, I looked in the west,
I saw John Bull a-coming according,
With four blind horses driving in the clouds
To look at the other side of Jordan.

Chorus (after each verse):

Pull off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Jordan is a hard road to travel, I believe.

Thunder in the clouds, lightning in the trees,
And what do you think I told him?
It's, Goodbye, Sam, to the next kingdom come
Till I meet you on the other side of Jordan.

The ladies of England have sent a big address
About slavery, and horrors, too, according.
They'd better look at home to their own white slaves,
They're starving on the English side of Jordan.

There were snakes in Ireland not many years ago,
Saint Patrick saw the vermin all a-crawling.
But with his shillelagh he hit 'em on the head
And he drove 'em 'cross the other side of Jordan.

Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale,
Three days and two nights too, according.
He tickled him with a straw which caused him to laugh
And he chucked him on the other side of Jordan.

Bellowhead sing Jordan

I looked to the east, I looked to the west,
I saw John Bull a-coming according
With four blind horses driving in the clouds
To look at the other side of Jordan.

Chorus (after each verse):

Pull off your old coat and roll up your sleeves,
Jordan is a hard road to travel, I believe.

Thunder in the clouds, lightning in the trees,
What do you think that I told him?
It's, Goodbye, Sam, till the next kingdom come
And I'll meet you on the other side of Jordan.

The ladies of England have made a big address
About slavery and hardships according.
They better look at home to their own white slaves,
They're starving on the English side of Jordan.

There were snakes in Ireland not many years ago,
Saint Patrick saw the vermin all a-crawling.
But with his shillelagh he hit 'em on the head
And he drove them 'cross the other side of Jordan.

Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale,
Three days and two nights then according
He tickled him with a straw which caused him to laugh
And he chucked him on the other side of Jordan.