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Jackie Monroe

  • (Trad)

    Do me kerry do a do a do
    Kerry do a do an

    Down into this country
    There lived a wealthy squire
    Who had an only daughter
    Who's charming, young and fair

    She had sweethearts a-plenty
    To marriage were inclined
    None but John the soldier
    Could gain his lady's mind

    And when her father come to know
    So angry then he swore
    I'll give the gang ten guineas
    To press young John to the war

    But she robbed her wicked old father
    Got money at her command
    Went to list in the army
    A-dressed up like a man

    Your waist is long and slender
    Your fingers white and small
    Your cheeks too red and rosy
    To face the cannonball

    It's true my waist is slender
    My fingers are but small
    It wouldn't change my countenance
    To see ten thousand fall

    Before you join our regiment
    Your name I wish to know
    She smiled all over her face, she said
    They call me Jackie Monroe

    She sailed all over the ocean,
    All over the deep blue sea
    Till she got safely landed
    At the wars o' Germany

    Well, all upon the battlefield
    She floated up and down
    Till among the dead and wounded
    Her darling Johnnie she found

    They have promoted me, she said
    They have promoted me
    Up to a colonel's level
    So a-married we can be

    Then up and spoke the general
    Such things they cannot be
    It's against the laws of our country
    Two men to married be

    And up and spoke the chaplain
    Such things are not allowed
    She drew out a broadsword,
    I'll make this do for you

    So now the two are married
    And all do plainly know
    John the wounded soldier
    Gained the lovely Jackie Monroe

    (as sung by Roy Harris)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1967:] [In] the seventeenth and eighteenth century [there] were several cases of women joining either army or navy and serving for a period dressed in men's clothes. The renowned Mrs Christian Welsh enlisted twice (the first time in search of her kidnapped husband, the second because she was fascinated by army life). She fought with distinction in Marlborough's army, was wounded at Ramillies, and her imposture was discovered as a consequence. She ended her days as a Chelsea pensioner and was accorded a military funeral. Hannah Snell was another bold Amazon, who served for years as a marine in the East Indies, and being wounded she extracted the bullet from herself to avoid being unmasked as a woman. She became a Chelsea outpensioner, took a public house in Wapping and wore trousers for the rest of her puff. Even these shining heroines of the folk are somewhat eclipsed by the dashing Mary Read, who had served as both soldier and sailor before she became notorious as the Female Pirate. (Lloyd, England 212)

  • [1979:] Wie viele dieser englischen Balladen wird diese sowohl in den USA als auch bei uns gesungen; daher existieren viele Versionen. (Bursch 74)

    See also Durowa, Die Offizierin

Quelle: England

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