'Spot' the disease
Jake
Can you help?
In the first half of the 20th century, in Ireland, there was a popular
song sung round the fireside about a young Irish girl who left her
home in County Donegal to go to America/USA.. The name of the girl was
Noreen Bawn (as was the title of the song).
Apparently -- in the words of the song -- Noreen moved up in the world
financially at least but one day, many years later, she returned to
visit her mother back home in Ireland. She was well dressed but there
were two tell-tale marks on her cheeks (purple spots). Whatever these
marks were it seems it lead to her early death.
I realsie ,though, that Noreen Bawn may well have been a fictional
character --- and I have no problem with that ---, however many tales
told in song do have the odd grain of truth within them.
The fact that two 'purple spots' on her cheek are mentioned in the
song narrative leads me to believe that it was a disease of some kind,
prevalent in America probably in the 18th/19th century. What kind of a
diseases were prevalent in that period of history in the USA and are
those 'purple spots' a typical symptom of any diseases past or
present. I look forward to some interesting replies.Thank You all!
Joe
Jack Campin - bogus address
> song sung round the fireside about a young Irish girl who left her
> home in County Donegal to go to America/USA.
> financially at least but one day, many years later, she returned to
> visit her mother back home in Ireland. She was well dressed but there
> were two tell-tale marks on her cheeks (purple spots). Whatever these
> The fact that two 'purple spots' on her cheek are mentioned in the
> song narrative leads me to believe that it was a disease of some kind,
> prevalent in America probably in the 18th/19th century. What kind of a
> diseases were prevalent in that period of history in the USA and are
> those 'purple spots' a typical symptom of any diseases past or
> present.
TB. Pink rather than purple - the cheeks were often flushed.
==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === <http://www.campin.me.uk> ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts
LidsvilleNine
<bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > In the first half of the 20th century, in Ireland, there was a popular
> > song sung round the fireside about a young Irish girl who left her
> > home in County Donegal to go to America/USA.
> > Apparently -- in the words of the song -- Noreen moved up in the world
> > financially at least but one day, many years later, she returned to
> > visit her mother back home in Ireland. She was well dressed but there
> > were two tell-tale marks on her cheeks (purple spots). Whatever these
> > marks were it seems it lead to her early death. [...]
> > The fact that two 'purple spots' on her cheek are mentioned in the
> > song narrative leads me to believe that it was a disease of some kind,
> > prevalent in America probably in the 18th/19th century. What kind of a
> > diseases were prevalent in that period of history in the USA and are
> > those 'purple spots' a typical symptom of any diseases past or
> > present.
>
> TB. Pink rather than purple - the cheeks were often flushed.
>
Cool. Anyone know any good polio songs?
Abby Sale
<Lidsvi...@embarqmail.com> wrote:
>Cool. Anyone know any good polio songs?
Well,
Ewan MacColl's "The Body Blow" (People with polio)
Radio Ballad #5, 1962
Reissued only on Topic TSCD 805, 1999
If you're collecting disease songs in general, there endless numbers of
them. But I'm not sure how cool most of them are. I believe there's a
Mudcat thread on it.
I sing one that's most likely the only well-known traditional (or
otherwise, for that matter) song about hematocolpos (haematocolpos to
UKans).
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
I am Abby Sale - in Raleigh, North Carolina
Skate free or die!
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---
Joe Fineman
> Cool. Anyone know any good polio songs?
"The Man Who Couldn't Walk Around", sung by Josh White on _The House I
Live In_ (no notice of who wrote it). An apotheosis of FDR. Pretty
icky, but an interesting period piece.
The same record, incidentally, has "TB Blues".
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: Truth is not stranger than fiction. It is sillier. :||
LidsvilleNine
wrote:
> On Wed, 14 May 2008 21:55:15 -0700 (PDT), LidsvilleNine
>
> >Cool. Anyone know any good polio songs?
>
> Well,
> Ewan MacColl's "The Body Blow" (People with polio)
> Radio Ballad #5, 1962
> Reissued only on Topic TSCD 805, 1999
>
> If you're collecting disease songs in general, there endless numbers of
> them. But I'm not sure how cool most of them are. I believe there's a
> Mudcat thread on it.
>
> I sing one that's most likely the only well-known traditional (or
> otherwise, for that matter) song about hematocolpos (haematocolpos to
> UKans).
Far out!!
Way back in college days I composed a little piece for orchestra
entitled "Apoplexy". As you'd expect, midway through then piece, one
side of the orchestra quit playing.