Jack Donahoo
Lilies of the Valley
Description
"Jack Donohoe has probably inspired more ballads and legends than any other bushranger, Ned Kelly excepted," Bill Wannan writes in his 1963 book Tell 'Em I Died Game. "In his own time, and up to the 1850s, he was looked upon by the respectable colonists as 'the bloodiest malefactor that ever broke bonds'. But in the songs of the people he was elevated to the status of a folk hero." Bold Jack Donohoe has been collected very widely, not only in 1950s Australia, but in England, Ireland, Canada and the USA long before that. One notable example is preserved on an Irish ballad sheet called The Adventures of Jack O'Donohoe, dated to around 1870, which uses very similar lyrics to those below. "Whether BJD was written in Australia or written by someone in Britain, we don't know," the Aussie folklorist Keith McKenry told me. "It was never published in Australia that we can find, but it certainly was published all over the British Isles." The lyrics here - which I've taken from Wannan's book - are said by bushranger expert Bill Scott to give the song in its earliest known and most factually-reliable version. "The form follows closely the broadsheets and ballads sold in the streets of England and Ireland," Scott points out. "The first line is almost the set beginning for a highwayman ballad".
Legal Details / License Terms
Lyrics from Project Gutenberg Cowboy Songs and other Frontier Ballads. Music generated using AI. This auction example serves for testing purposes. All applicable rights reserved. Kaycee Ranch LLC
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