> Folk Music > Songs > Gossip Joan

Gossip Joan/John

[ Roud 1039 ; Master title: Gossip Joan ; TYG 54 ; Ballad Index Br3144 ; GlosTrad Roud 1039 ; Wiltshire 594 ; trad.]

Frank Purslow: Marrow Bones James Reeves: The Idiom of the People The Everlasting Circle Mary and Nigel Hudleston: Songs of the Ridings

Frank Beaumont, Barry Bridgewater, Cyril Ford, Frank Hinchliffe and Arthur Howard sang Gossip John at The Stanhope Arms, Dunford Bridge, Yorkshire, on 17 November 1972. This recording was included in 1975 on The Holme Valley Beagles’ Leader album A Fine Hunting Day. David Bland noted:

This song goes back, in print at least, to the middle of the 17^th century, when D’Urfey published a version in Pills to Purge Melancholy under the title Good Morrow Gossip Joan. D’Urfey’s tune bears no relationship to this one, but the 10 verses catalogue a string of mishaps rather similar to those listed here and one verse is almost identical to the fourth verse sung by the Holme Valley Beagles. The hunt’s tune first appears some time later, incorporated into John Gay’s Beggars’ Opera of 1728, again with the title Gossip Joan. From such sophisticated town origins the song seems to have found its way out into the country and into the repertoires of many country singers, for some two centuries after D’Urfey, Baring-Gould came across it in Devon, Sharp in Somerset, Hammond in Dorset and Williams in Gloucestershire.

This has always been a set-piece with the hunt, sung by a group of them in strongly emphasised dialect, with syncopation in the chorus and a rallantando at the end. Sometimes they even add hand actions to illustrate the verses. Again, no-one can account for this; this is just the way the song was passed on. There has, however, been one recent innovation, for the fifth verse was unknown in the hunt until Arthur Howard, Frank Hinchcliffe and Fred Woodcock introduced it.

Frankie Armstrong sang Gossip Joan in 1974 on the Argo anthology The World of the Countryside.

Regal Slip sang Gossip Jones in 1981 on their Dingle’s album Bandstand. They noted:

Despite being translated from deep Double Gloucestershire, this early offering from a Folk Song Society journal remains a delightfully frivolous piece of nonsense.

Barry Dransfield sang Gossip Joan in 1994 on his Rhiannon album Be Your Own Man. The text he used is the one from Frank Purslow’s Marrow Bones. It was collected from Joseph Vincent from Dorset in 1906. He noted:

A song I always liked, though heard rarely. I have searched for a meaning or message in this song and was delighted not to find one, it being just fun and nonsense. I made the last lines into a chorus as I felt it was appropriate.

Will Noble, John Cocking, Andrew Rogers and Ian Russell sang Gossip John at the National Folk Music Festival, Sutton Bonington, Nottinghamshire, on 18 April 1998. This recording was included in the same year on the EFDSS anthology A Century of Song.

Will Noble and John Cocking sang Gossip John at the Huntsman, Holmfirth, Yorkshire, on 23 November 2003. This recording was included in 2004 on their Veteran album of sungs sung in South Yorkshire, Yon Green Banks. They and John Howson noted:

Will and John learned this at the Holme Valley Beagles gatherings and they say that “Any hunt social was not complete without finishing the evening with this, and it was not uncommon for eight or ten chaps to sing this together to close proceedings”. In fact it became such an integral part of their meetings that an extra last verse was introduced to the hunt’s version by Fred Woodcock, Frank Hinchliffe and Arthur Howard.

It has been collected in many rural counties including Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Gloucestershire yet its origins are in fact more sophisticated and urban.

Lyrics

The Holme Valley Beagles sing Gossip John

𝄆 Good morning, Gossip John, where ’ast thee been so early? 𝄇
𝄆 So early in the morning, morning, morning, morning, morning,
So early in the morning, Gossip John. 𝄇

𝄆 My petticoat I’ve lost, I’ve lost, I’ve left it at my granny’s. 𝄇
𝄆 But I’ll fetch it back in t’morning, morning, morning, morning, morning,
I’ll fetch it back in t’morning, Gossip John. 𝄇

𝄆 Your brand new cow has calved, it’s calved, right under t’parlour window. 𝄇
𝄆 And its calf it will not suck, suck, suck, suck, suck,
Thou’ll have to give it t’finger, Gossip John. 𝄇

𝄆 Your duck has swallowed a snail, quack quack, now isn’t that a wonder. 𝄇
𝄆 And it all came out of its tail, tail, tail, tail, tail,
And split its arse asunder, Gossip John. 𝄇

𝄆 Oh Kate I’ve seen thy (whistle), thou hasn’t you lying old rascal. 𝄇
𝄆 Thou’s nobbut seen my a, a, a, a, arm-oil,
Thou’s nobbut seen my arm-oil, Gossip John. 𝄇

There’s a lot more verses to this song, but we aren’t bahn to sing them.
(spoken: They aren’t fit to hear)
There’s a lot more verses to this song, but we aren’t bahn to sing them,
𝄆 So we’ll bid you all goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.
We’ll bid you all goodnight, goodnight, goodnight. 𝄇

Regal Slip sing Gossip Jones

𝄆 Good morning, Gossip Jones, and where hast thou been walking? 𝄇
𝄆 I’ve been walking in the morning, the morning, the morning,
Walking in the morning, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

𝄆 My cherry cow is calved beneath the parlour awning. 𝄇
𝄆 We’ll have butter in the morning, the morning, the morning,
Butter in the morning, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

𝄆 My pig he is not well, pray tell to me the matter, 𝄇
𝄆 For he ate the wooden platter, the platter, the platter,
Ate the wooden platter, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

𝄆 My duck has swallowed a snail, oh isn’t that a wonder, 𝄇
𝄆 For its horns grow out from under, from under, from under,
Horns grow out from under, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

𝄆 My wife she is got drunk and on the bed lies sleeping, 𝄇
𝄆 But tomorrow she’ll be weeping, be weeping, be weeping,
Tomorrow she’ll be weeping, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

𝄆 Then off to the gin shop I will drop to drive away all sorrow, 𝄇
𝄆 And we’ll tell you more tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow,
Tell you more tomorrow, oh Gossip Jones. 𝄇

Barry Dransfield sings Gossip Joan

𝄆 Good morrow Gossip Joan and where are you-a wandrin’? 𝄇
So early in the morning, the morning, the morning,
So early in the morning, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
So early in the morning, Gossip Joan.

𝄆 Our dog’s gone to the copse and I don’t know how to find him. 𝄇
Leave him alone and he’ll come home and he’ll come home, and he’ll come home,
And bring his tail behind him, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
And bring his tail behind him, Gossip Joan.

𝄆 I have a idle girl, she will not rock the cradle. 𝄇
To beat her I’m afraid, I’ m afraid, I’m afraid,
I’ m afraid I am not able, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
I’ m afraid I am not able, Gossip Joan.

𝄆 Our pig he is not well, oh what can be the matter? 𝄇
’Twas just the other day, the other day, the other day
He ate a wooden platter, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
He ate a wooden platter, Gossip Joan.

𝄆 Our duck she swallowed a snail, oh Lor’ ain’t that a wonder? 𝄇
And the horns grew from its tail, its tail, its tail, its tail , its tail,
And split its arse asunder, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
And split its arse asunder, Gossip Joan.

𝄆 Lets to the alehouse go and wash down all our worries. 𝄇
I’ll tell you all my troubles, my troubles, my troubles
For we may not meet tomorrow, Gossip Joan, Joan, Joan, Joan,
For we may not meet tomorrow, Gossip Joan.