“Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles)”

Description

Lyrics composed of titles or pieces of other songs, e.g. "Mickey O'Flannigan he had a Bull Pup, Down Where the Pansies Grow, Don't You Leave Your Mother, Tom, For Mary Kelly's Beau."

Notes

There are actually several pieces which go under this title (Randolph's A, B, and C form one group, his D another; Dean's a third, specifically of Irish songs; Stephen Foster with Tony Pastor produced the piece printed by Spaeth in 1863, though Saunders and Root note that the lyrics are not by Pastor or Foster, and suggest John F. Poole as the writer).

All these songs have a common mechanism, however, and since it is often hard to tell one from another, I am lumping them here.

This has, of course, no relation to the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon, Canticles) in the Bible. For one thing, the Biblical book is erotic (arguably obscene), while this is clean. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Songs of Old Ireland" (theme)

References

1. Randolph 515, "Titles of Songs" (4 texts, 1 tune)
2. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 380-381, "Titles of Songs" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 515A)
3. BrownIII 234, "Working on the Railroad" (1 text plus two unrelated fragments, the "B" and "C" fragments probably belong with "Roll on the Ground (Big Ball's in Town)"; the "A" text is a jumble starting with "Working on the Railroad" but followed up by what is probably a "Song of All Songs" fragment)
4. Dean, p. 131, "Reminiscences" (1 text)
5. Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 45-46, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text)
6. Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 339-342+450, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text, 1 tune)
7. Roud #7598, 7599
8. BI, R515