“The Jones Boys (II)”
Description
The two Jones Boys each "owned a mill in the side of a hill.... They worked all night and they worked all day But they couldn't make the gosh-darned saw-mill pay." The song goes through the seasons. The singer hopes to work for them again in the spring.
Supplemental text
Jones Boys (II), The
Partial text(s)
*** A ***
From Louise Manny and James Reginald Wilson, Songs of Miramichi,
#28, pp. 126-128. From the singing of Nicolas Underhill of
Nor'west Bridge in 1959.
I'll tell you a tale of the Jones Boys
Who lived in yonder hill,
Two jolly fellows with a twinkle in their eye,
And they each did own a mill.
They owned a mill in the side of a hill,
And Eliza she worked in the kiln,
They worked all night, and they worked all day,
But they couldn't make the gosh-darned saw-mill pay.
Then hi dum diddle um Johnny Jones,
Then hi dum diddle um Jimmy.
Chorus (after verses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7):
O the Jones Boys, O the Jones Boys,
Here's to the jolly Jones Boys.
They worked all night and they worked all day,
But they couldn't make the gosh-darned saw-mill pay.
Then hi dum diddle um Johnny Jones,
Then hi dum diddle um Jimmy.
(5 additional stanzas)
Notes
Manny/Wilson: "John Jones, father of the Jones boys, came out from Camborne, Cornwall, in 1840 .... [The] Jones family moved up to a brook flowing into the Nor'West Miramichi, which then took the name of Jones's Brook. There John Jones built a grist mill to serve the community, and raised a family of ten children. John Senior died in 1866, and his sons, James and John Junior took over the business, James managing the grist mill, and John a sawmill near by."
Are Manny/Wilson 27 [The Jones Boys (I)] and Manny/Wilson 28 [this piece] the same song? There is no question but that the entire Manny/Wilson 27 text is part of the Manny/Wilson 28 chorus. Wilson's comment on Manny/Wilson 27: "[The tune] slightly resembles the beginning of the chorus of Mr Underhill's complete version [Manny/Wilson 28]. However, this fragment has apparently been in circulation for several generations. The late Lord Beaverbrook knew it as a child in Miramichi. It is unusual to find a fragment assuming its own personality and coexisting with a complete version in the same area." - BS
Cross references
- cf. "The Jones Boys (I)" (lyrics, people)
Recordings
- Nick Underhill, "The Jones Boys" (on Miramichi1)
References
- Manny/Wilson 28, "The Jones Boys - II" (1 text, 1 tune)
- ST MaWi028 (Partial)
- BI, MaWi028