Skewball
Encyclopedia
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song.
, and later sold. His name has been recorded as "Squball", "Sku-ball", or "Stewball". He won many races in England, and was sent to Ireland. The Irish turf calendar states that he won six races worth £508 in 1752, when he was eleven years old, and was the top earning runner of that year in Ireland. His most famous race took place on the plains of Kildare
, Ireland, which is generally the subject of the song of the same name. The early ballad about the event has Skewball belonging to an Arthur Marvell or Mervin. Based on the horse's name, Skewball was likely a skewbald
horse.
, generally titled either "Skewball" or "Stewball"; the latter is more popular in America. There are multiple variations within the two major divisions. Versions date at least as far back as the 18th century, appearing on numerous broadsides
. In both songs the title horse is the underdog in the race, up against a favored grey mare (usually called either "Griselda" or "Molly"), and although in most versions of Stewball the winning horse triumphs due to the stumbling of the lead horse, Skewball wins simply by being the faster horse in the end. Probably the most significant lyrical difference in the songs is the conversation Skewball has with his jockey, while Stewball behaves more like a typical horse and does not speak.
American versions were sung and adapted by slaves in the Southern United States, and have Stewball racing in California
, Texas
, and Kentucky
. British and Irish versions, when the setting is mentioned, usually place the race in Kildare, Ireland, leading some to believe that the song is actually Irish in origin. The fact that these accounts still imply that the horse's nationality was English, and they celebrate a victory over a horse that is presumably Irish, makes it likely the song is originally English, and its setting in Ireland is due to it being the site of Skewball's most famous race.
The song is in the Roud Folk Song Index
, #456.
A notable recording is by American folk legend Woody Guthrie
, who included an English and an American interpretation (both entitled Stewball) on tape, and recorded in Volume 4 of The Asch Recordings (1930-1940). The American interpretation is a chain-gang song sung by Lead Belly and Guthrie with an African American 'call and response
' style, while the English interpretation is derived from the traditional British broadside ballad
, and sung to a cowboy waltz tune. The American interpretation has Stewball as being born in California
with the famed race against the grey mare taking place in Dallas, Texas
. Lead Belly recorded several versions of this song, and the music and lyrics from his version appear in American Ballads and Folk Songs by Lomax
and Lomax
. John and Ruby Lomax also recorded a version by a "Group of Convicts" in their 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, available online at the American Memory site.
Lead Belly's American chain-gang version of Stewball was covered in the 1950s by The Weavers
, and then by British skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan
.
Guthrie's cowboy version of the British ballad, with the same lyrics but a different tune, was recorded by John Herald
and the Greenbriar Boys, and popularized by Peter, Paul and Mary
. Other versions of this version of Stewball include Mason Proffit
on Come and Gone (1973), which differs in a number of lyrical changes (including the grey mare stumbling) from Peter, Paul, and Mary's version, Joan Baez
's on Joan Baez/5
(1964), The Hollies
on Would You Believe
(1966), and the Chad Mitchell Trio
on Reflecting (1964). The 1971 John Lennon
song "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
" has a similar meter and tune , as does the commercial jingle "Come back to Jamaica
". Popular British versions include recordings by A. L. Lloyd
, Martin Carthy
, and Steeleye Span
on the album Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again
. An American version following the British tradition is recorded by Broadside Electric
on Black-edged Visiting Card
. The song has also been recorded by Irish musicians Andy Irvine
and Paul Brady
as "The Plains of Kildare."
A French
song called Skewball was recorded by Hugues Aufray
in 1966, becoming one of Aufray's biggest hits. However, this song (written by Hugues Aufray and Pierre Delanoë) is unlike the English-language songs of the same name. It takes the perspective of a man recalling an experience as a ten-year old boy. His father believes that Stewball will win a race, so he puts all his money and assets into this venture. Toward the end of the race, Stewball tragically falls. The veterinarian finishes him off with a single shot. This is the first time that the narrator witnesses his father cry.
Aufray's song is very different in that it features Stewball not winning his race and dying due to an injury.
History
The horse was foaled in 1741, and originally owned by Francis, 2nd Earl of GodolphinEarl of Godolphin
Earl of Godolphin was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1706 for Sidney Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin, the Lord High Treasurer. At the same time, he was created Viscount Rialton. In 1684 he had already been created Baron Godolphin, of Rialton, also in the Peerage of England...
, and later sold. His name has been recorded as "Squball", "Sku-ball", or "Stewball". He won many races in England, and was sent to Ireland. The Irish turf calendar states that he won six races worth £508 in 1752, when he was eleven years old, and was the top earning runner of that year in Ireland. His most famous race took place on the plains of Kildare
County Kildare
County Kildare is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland, which is generally the subject of the song of the same name. The early ballad about the event has Skewball belonging to an Arthur Marvell or Mervin. Based on the horse's name, Skewball was likely a skewbald
Skewbald
Skewbald is a color pattern of horses. A skewbald horse has a coat made up of white patches on a non-black base coat, such as chestnut, bay, or any color besides black coat. Skewbald horses which are bay and white are sometimes called tricoloured...
horse.
Songs
There are two major different versions of the sporting balladSporting song
A Sporting Song is a folk-song which celebrates Fox hunting, Horse racing, Gambling and other recreations.Although songs about boxers and successful racehorses were common in the nineteenth century, few are performed by current singers. In particular fox-hunting is considered politically incorrect...
, generally titled either "Skewball" or "Stewball"; the latter is more popular in America. There are multiple variations within the two major divisions. Versions date at least as far back as the 18th century, appearing on numerous broadsides
Broadside (music)
A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...
. In both songs the title horse is the underdog in the race, up against a favored grey mare (usually called either "Griselda" or "Molly"), and although in most versions of Stewball the winning horse triumphs due to the stumbling of the lead horse, Skewball wins simply by being the faster horse in the end. Probably the most significant lyrical difference in the songs is the conversation Skewball has with his jockey, while Stewball behaves more like a typical horse and does not speak.
American versions were sung and adapted by slaves in the Southern United States, and have Stewball racing in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. British and Irish versions, when the setting is mentioned, usually place the race in Kildare, Ireland, leading some to believe that the song is actually Irish in origin. The fact that these accounts still imply that the horse's nationality was English, and they celebrate a victory over a horse that is presumably Irish, makes it likely the song is originally English, and its setting in Ireland is due to it being the site of Skewball's most famous race.
The song is in the Roud Folk Song Index
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
, #456.
Recordings
"...comes aprancin' and adancin' my darling Stewball."A notable recording is by American folk legend Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, who included an English and an American interpretation (both entitled Stewball) on tape, and recorded in Volume 4 of The Asch Recordings (1930-1940). The American interpretation is a chain-gang song sung by Lead Belly and Guthrie with an African American 'call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
' style, while the English interpretation is derived from the traditional British broadside ballad
Broadside (music)
A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...
, and sung to a cowboy waltz tune. The American interpretation has Stewball as being born in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with the famed race against the grey mare taking place in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Lead Belly recorded several versions of this song, and the music and lyrics from his version appear in American Ballads and Folk Songs by Lomax
John Lomax
John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs...
and Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
. John and Ruby Lomax also recorded a version by a "Group of Convicts" in their 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, available online at the American Memory site.
Lead Belly's American chain-gang version of Stewball was covered in the 1950s by The Weavers
The Weavers
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
, and then by British skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
.
Guthrie's cowboy version of the British ballad, with the same lyrics but a different tune, was recorded by John Herald
John Herald
John Herald was an American folk and bluegrass songwriter, solo and studio musician, and one-time member of The Greenbriar Boys trio.-Biography:...
and the Greenbriar Boys, and popularized by Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...
. Other versions of this version of Stewball include Mason Proffit
Mason Proffit
Mason Proffit was a folk rock band from Chicago, Illinois that released five albums between 1969 and 1973.-History:Brothers Terry Talbot and John Michael Talbot played together in several local bands around Indianapolis, Indiana and later in Chicago...
on Come and Gone (1973), which differs in a number of lyrical changes (including the grey mare stumbling) from Peter, Paul, and Mary's version, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
's on Joan Baez/5
Joan Baez/5
Joan Baez/5 is a 1964 album by American folk singer Joan Baez. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 chart. The single "There But for Fortune" reached number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.-History:...
(1964), The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
on Would You Believe
Would You Believe
Would You Believe can refer to:* Would You Believe - An Irish TV series broadcast on RTÉ One.Music* Would You Believe? , an album by Ray Charles* Would You Believe? , a 1966 album by The Hollies...
(1966), and the Chad Mitchell Trio
Chad Mitchell Trio
The Chad Mitchell Trio were a North American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed folk songs, some of which were traditionally passed down and some of their own compositions. Unlike many fellow folk music groups, none of the trio played instruments...
on Reflecting (1964). The 1971 John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
song "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
"Happy Xmas " is a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir....
" has a similar meter and tune , as does the commercial jingle "Come back to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
". Popular British versions include recordings by A. L. Lloyd
A. L. Lloyd
Albert Lancaster Lloyd , usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s....
, Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...
, and Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
on the album Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again
Ten Man Mop, or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again
Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again is the third album by Steeleye Span, recorded in 1971. Of all their albums, it is the most acoustic and it also has considerable Irish influence, second only to Horkstow Grange. Tracks like "Four Nights Drunk", "Marrowbones", and "Wee Weaver" are...
. An American version following the British tradition is recorded by Broadside Electric
Broadside Electric
Broadside Electric are an American electric folk band from Philadelphia. Formed in 1990, they are still active in 2011...
on Black-edged Visiting Card
Black-edged Visiting Card
Black-edged Visiting Card is the title of the first album by Broadside Electric. It was released on December 1, 1992 in the United States.-Track listing:#New York Girls / Yoshke / Sailor's Hornpipe – 5:57...
. The song has also been recorded by Irish musicians Andy Irvine
Andy Irvine (musician)
Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine is a folk musician, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, guitar-bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy....
and Paul Brady
Paul Brady
Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age...
as "The Plains of Kildare."
A French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
song called Skewball was recorded by Hugues Aufray
Hugues Aufray
Hugues Aufray is a French singer. He began his career singing in Spanish....
in 1966, becoming one of Aufray's biggest hits. However, this song (written by Hugues Aufray and Pierre Delanoë) is unlike the English-language songs of the same name. It takes the perspective of a man recalling an experience as a ten-year old boy. His father believes that Stewball will win a race, so he puts all his money and assets into this venture. Toward the end of the race, Stewball tragically falls. The veterinarian finishes him off with a single shot. This is the first time that the narrator witnesses his father cry.
Aufray's song is very different in that it features Stewball not winning his race and dying due to an injury.