Sam Hall (song)

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"Sam Hall" (Roud 369) is an English folk song about an unrepentant criminal condemned to death for robbing the rich to feed the poor. Prior to the mid-19th century it was called "Jack Hall", after Jack Hall, a thief who was hanged at Tyburn in 1707. Jack Hall's parents sold him as a climbing boy for one guinea, which is why most versions of the song identify Sam or Jack Hall as a chimney sweep. [1]

Contents

History

The Fresno State University website states that the printed collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy , dated to 1719, has a version of "Jack Hall". [2] The Bodleian Library has a printed version called "Jack the Chimney Sweep", dated between 1819 and 1844. [3]

Prior to 1988, the song had been collected from about 18 singers in the oral tradition, limited to England and the United States, and there had been only six sound recordings made. [4] Comic performer W. G. Ross adapted one version in the 1840s and changed the name from "Jack Hall" to "Sam Hall". The song also appears to have been adapted to fit the region in which it was sung; some versions refer to Sam Hall being hanged at Tyburn, some at Cootehill. Also it is unclear what, if any, uncouth language was original to the song. Various versions have Sam Hall call his executioners "muckers", "fuckers", "buggers", "muggers", "critters" or "bastards".

Some versions end each verse with the lines

I hate you, one and all
And I hate you, one and all
Damn your eyes. [5]

The melody of the song was taken from the song "Captain Kidd", aka "Robert Kidd", written shortly after the execution of William Kidd in 1701.

A more vulgar variant has become an enduring cultural phenomenon among United States Air Force pilots. Known as "Sammy Small", this may be the best known drinking song among American fighter pilots. Covered by Dos Gringos in 2006 on their album "2", the lyrics have remained consistent at least since the Vietnam War.

Regarding the metrics and the melody, the version common in Ireland and Britain ("Oh my name it is Sam Hall, chimney sweep...") appeared to be based on the tune "Ye Jacobites by Name" (Roud number 5517), whereas the version more common in the US ("My name it is Sam Hall, 'Tis Sam Hall...") is a variant of the tune to "Frog Went A-Courting" (Roud number 16).

American version

A distinct American version of the song, with the opening line "My name it is Sam Hall, it is Sam Hall" (or "Samuel Hall"), where the character is about to be hanged for murder, and various other often rude modifications, developed and became widely popular among cowboys in the American West, [6] including in the Oklahoma range. This was fairly typical of cowboy songs, which were often adapted from traditional English ballads. [7] The earliest known publication of this version of the song is found in Max Brand's novel Trailin'! (1919). [8] It was collected by Hubert L. Canfield (1920s), [9] Harold Scott (1926), [10] Mellinger E. Henry (1931), [11] and John and Alan Lomax (1934). [12]

American Country music singer Tex Ritter adapted the song, [13] and recorded it as a single in 1935. [14] He sang it again in the film The Old Corral / Song of the Gringo (1936), and recorded a version for his 1960 album Blood on the Saddle. It was also recorded by many other artists. Oscar Brand performed the song on Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads volume 1 (1955). In concert, e.g. Le Hibou Coffee House, Ottawa, 1966, Brand used the following lyric: "... My name is Samuel Hall and I hate you one and all, You're a bunch of fuckers all, Goddamn your eyes, Son of a bitch, Shit." If a young person came into the club, Brand would edit this for comic effect to "... Gall darn his eyes, Son of a gun, Shucks." Josh White recorded a version of the song, included on The Story Of John Henry (1955). Carl Sandburg, poet and Abraham Lincoln biographer, recorded it twice, once in 1964, as "Sam Hall" and later as "Gallows Song". Johnny Cash recorded a version of this song on Ballads of the True West (1965), re-recording it for American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002). [13] [15] The band Flogging Molly used the Johnny Cash version as an intro for their concerts. Ed Kuepper covered this song on his album The Exotic Mail Order Moods of Ed Kuepper (1995). The self-professed "steamcrunk" band Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys performed a version of this song on their album Steamship Killers (2010).

The song was used in several plays, books, films and television shows. Lynn Riggs included the song, as arranged by Margaret Larkin, in his 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs , the play that would later be adapted with new songs as the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! (1943). [16] It was referenced in Jim Thompson's first novel, Now and On Earth (1942), and Eudora Welty's novel, Delta Wedding (1946). Poul Anderson's 1953 novelette "Sam Hall" features a disgruntled bureaucrat who creates fake records about a rebel named Sam Hall (after the song) who fights against the totalitarian government. Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson's short story "Yo Ho Hoka!" (1955), has the Hokas sing this song as they are being hanged. [Note: this is comical, as the Hokas' necks are stronger than those of humans, so they just hang each other for fun. It's a strange world]. The song, performed by Terry Gilkyson, was the main musical theme of the 1956 film Star in the Dust directed by Charles F. Haas, with John Agar, Mamie van Doren and Richard Boone as Sam Hall in the main roles. Dennis Hopper sings the opening line of the song in an episode of The Lieutenant , "To Set It Right" (1964). Clint Eastwood recites it in the movie Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970).

Recordings

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References

  1. Roy Palmer: The Sound of History (1988)
  2. Waltz, Robert. "Mr". Fresnostate.edu. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  3. Bodley, Thomas. "Sir". Broadside Ballads Online. Bodleian Library. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. "The Voice of the People - Song Notes Vols 17 & 18". Mustrad.org.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  5. "Genius | Song Lyrics & Knowledge". Genius.com. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  6. Brooks, Cleanth; Warren, Robert Penn, eds. (1976). "Sam Hall". Understanding Poetry (4 ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 155. ISBN   0-03-076980-9.
  7. Watson, Elmo Scott (1931). "Songs the Cow-Boys Sung". Holt Weekly News.
  8. Brand, Max (1919). "Sam'l Hall". Trailin'!. New York: A. L. Burt. p. 210.
  9. "Samuel Hall", Hubert L. Canfield Collection, 1926
  10. Scott, Harold (1926). "The Ballad of Sam Hall". English Song Book. New York: Robert M. McBride & Company. p. 85.
  11. Henry, Mellinger E. (1931). "Jack Hall". The Journal of American Folk-Lore. 44 (173). New York: American Folk-Lore Society: 305–306.
  12. Lomax, John; Lomax, Alan (1934). "Sam Hall". American Ballads and Folk Songs. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 133.
  13. 1 2 Alexander, John M. (2018). The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash. University of Arkansas Press. p. 71. ISBN   978-1-68226-051-7.
  14. Ritter, Tex. "Mr". Music.metason.net. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  15. Erlewine, Michael. "Sam Hall". AllMusic . Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  16. Riggs, Lynn (2003). The Cherokee Night and Other Plays. pp. xiv, 5.
  17. Performed by The Seven Dials Band on their album "The Music of Dickens and His Time". YouTube, 3:33.
  18. Hall, Sam. "Mr". Genius.com. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  19. "Sellers In The Attic". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
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  21. Reinhard Zierke (23 January 2011). Jon Boden (ed.). "Jack Hall / Sam Hall". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music. Retrieved 6 March 2011.