Lay the Lily Low

[John Garst]

> I have a book, (Songs of Work & Freedom by Edith Fowke & Joe Glazer)
> which gives the same account, almost word for word, but adds something
> more to the origin: "The tune is usually said to be an old Baptist hymn,
> "Lay the Lily Low," but the British folklorist, A.L. Lloyd, points out
> the similarity to that of the British ballad, "Jack Munro," which uses
> "Lay the Lily Low" as a refrain.
>
> Bob Kirk

I just spotted Bob's information from a while back. Thanks, Bob.

A check of Cecil Sharp's English Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains
reveals no less than 20 (!) tunes for Jack Went A-Sailing (No. 65, pp
385-395), which is, I think, the same song as Lloyd's Jack Munro. Many of
the tunes closely resemble that used by Florence Reese for Which Side Are
You On? None of them, however, have "Lay the lily low" as the refrain,
though many have what might be garbled versions of that:

Sing ree and sing low

Sing lili, lili, O

ee ee i-ley O

Sing O my lady, O

Lilla, lilla ho

O lilly, lilly hoo

Go lay the lil I you

etc

This thread started as follows:

>>>In article <willis-2301...@apm5-161.realtime.net>, wil...@bga.com
>>>(willis) wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm looking for an old hymn - I think these are some of the words, and I
>>>> think the song might be called "Which Side Are You On?" but I'm not sure.
>>>> I've heard it re-done by folkies as a pro-union or civil rights song as
>>>> well. Can anyone help me?
>>>>
>>>> The pathway of the Righteous Can have no earthly goal.
>>>> What good are gold and silver if The Devil wins your soul?
>>>> Guide us to Thy side, Lord, Guide us to Thy side.

These are clearly the words of a spiritual song. It seems to me that
willis knows a fragment of the hymn that Florence Reese probably based her
union song on. I suspect that that song was printed somewhere with the
instruction "Tune: Lay the Lily Low." This would explain all we know
about this, or at least all I know, so far.

John Garst ga...@sunchem.chem.uga.edu