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"Sam Hall" is an English folk song about a unrepentant criminal condemned to death (Roud Folk Song Index number 369) 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]
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
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).
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"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
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