The Three Butchers (ballad)
Encyclopedia
"The Three Butchers", "Bold Johnson", "Dixon and Johnson" or "Johnson-Jinkson" (Roud
# 17; Laws
L4) is a traditional English folk ballad telling the story of how two or three butchers defeat seven or more robbers. There are a large number of versions of the song going by a variety of different titles.
in England in the 17th century by Paul Burges, the ballad made its way to America
where it was collected by Randolph in Ozark Folksongs amongst others. It was recorded by Charles Lafayette Todd
and Robert Sonkin
for the Library of Congress
.
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...
# 17; Laws
George Malcolm Laws
George Malcolm Laws Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a scholar of traditional UK and US folk song.His name is normally rendered as "G Malcolm Laws jnr". He is best known for "American Balladry from British Broadsides", published in 1957 by the American Folklore Society. He graduated from the...
L4) is a traditional English folk ballad telling the story of how two or three butchers defeat seven or more robbers. There are a large number of versions of the song going by a variety of different titles.
Synopsis
Two or three butchers, variously name Johnson, Dixon, Jinkson, Jackson, Dickie amongst others, are travelling on horseback when they see a naked woman tied up by the side of the road. They give her a coat and put her on one of their horses but it turns out that she is the bait for a band of robbers and she gives the signal that the trap has worked. The brigands spring out of their hiding place and set on her would-be rescuers. One of the butchers wants to run away but the other elects to fight and proceeds to kill all but one of the highwaymen, who runs away. The woman then kills this butcher by stabbing him in the back.Commentary
Originally printed as a broadsideBroadside (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 England in the 17th century by Paul Burges, the ballad made its way to America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where it was collected by Randolph in Ozark Folksongs amongst others. It was recorded by Charles Lafayette Todd
Charles Lafayette Todd
Charles Lafayette "Lafe" Todd was an American folklorist.He was born in rural western New York State. As an undergraduate studying English literature at Hamilton College, he developed an interest in the Elizabethan ballad...
and Robert Sonkin
Robert Sonkin
Robert Sonkin was an American scholar of speech, language, and music.-Life:Sonkin was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, on December 25, 1910.. Sonkin, who held degrees from City College and Columbia University, founded the speech clinic at City College. He met Charles L...
for the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.
Recordings
- Pete SeegerPete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
recorded the song on his album American Ballads (1957) - Peggy SeegerPeggy SeegerMargaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...
included it on her album Folksongs and Ballads (1958) - GryphonGryphon (band)Gryphon were a British progressive rock band of the 1970s, best known for their unusual Medieval sound and instrumentation.-Career:Multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate Brian Gulland, a woodwind player, began the group as an all-acoustic ensemble that...
recorded the song for their self titled debut album GryphonGryphon (album)Gryphon is the debut album by the progressive rock band Gryphon. It was originally released in 1973 by Transatlantic, catalogue number TRA 262....
(1973) - Steeleye Span recorded it as "Two Butchers" for Tempted and Tried (1989)