"Johnny, Come-A-Long" : An Old Shanty That Includes The Chorus For The Song "Down By The Sea" also known as "Down By The Bay" (Where The Watermelons Grow)

Hultonclint, Feb. 20, 2010

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of an old shanty entitled "Johnny Come Along" as well as the lyrics for and information about that shanty.

That shanty includes the words "Down by the sea where the watermelons grow/Back to my home/ I shall not go". 

This post also includes some information about British shanty collector Stan Hugill whose 1961 book Shanties from the Seven Seas includes the shanty "Johnny Come Along". Most of the shanties in that collection are original or adapted from the 1920s through the 1940s.  

In addition, this post presents information about the 1930s Greek song "Gialo Gialo" which includes the chorus to the song "Down By The Sea" (where the watermelons grown). 

The Addendum to this post includes my speculation that the adaptations by Hugill (if not that "original" shanty itself) is related in some way with the late 19th century, early 20th century bawdy song "Bang Bang Lulu".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer/s of the "Down By The Sea" ("Down By The Banks" song. Thanks also to the unknown composer/s  of the "Johnny Come Along" shanty. Thanks also to the collectors of this song and this shanty, and special thanks to a Hultonclint for this showcase video and his work on shanties.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series about the history of the song "Down By The Sea"/ "Down By The Bay" (including the 2020 adaption "Down By The Bay Where The Watermelons Rot". 

Although almost all pancocojams posts focus on African American culture and other Black cultures around the world, this "Down By The Sea"/"Bay" series is presented for general folkloric purposes. 

"Down By The Sea" (also known as "Down By The Bay" has pre-World War I (1914-1918) origins as indicated in a number of online pages, including .https://www.folklounge.org/where-are-the-watermelons-from-anyway/ "Where are the Watermelons from anyway?" March 20, 2023, Daniel Kelly.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-earliest-known-source-for-lyrics.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "The Earliest Known Sources For The Lyrics "Have you Ever Seen A Cow With A Green Eyebrow?" In "Down By The Sea Where The Watermelons Grow" Songs".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/03/where-watermelons-rot-original-song-by.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Where The Watermelons Rot" (an original song by Madelynne Whitt based on "Down By The Bay Where The Watermelons Grow").

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LYRICS FOR "JOHNNY COME-A-LONG*
(words adapted by Stan Hugill)

Oh, Johnny Johnny John come along come along
Johnny Johnny John come along come along
Don’t stand there like a goddam fool
Don’t stand there looking so cool
Don’t shy away from the ladies
and his teeth they went bang bang

Chorus:
Down by the sea
Where the watermelons grow
Back to my home
I shall not go
And I shall dream
of love[‘s] sweet song
Who can be happier
than a sailor tonight

Oh, Johnny Johnny John was a sailor man
He'd been around all day
joking with the ladies
Playing hide and seek
not a penny to pay
for to have a little peek
Happy as the day went
High diddle dee
And the girls all stayed
Bang bang

Chorus 

Oh Johnny Johnny John in the garden with his gun
Monkeying and a playin' all the day
Johnny took his gun
And the gun was loaded
Johnny took his gun
And the gun exploded
High diddle dee
High diddle dum
And he never let it go bang bang

Chorus 

Oh Johnny Johnny John get along get along
Leave the little ladies on the shore
Keep off  John, leave the girls alone
Say goodbye and sail away for home
Don’t hang around anymore (Anymore)
I told you once bang bang

Chorus
-snip- 
* This is my transcription of the words that Hultonclint (and his backup singers) sung in this embedded YouTube video. I used the YouTube captions that were given as a base for this transcription, but didn't use the captions that I believe are incorrect.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

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REPRINT OF THE SUMMARY FROM THIS EMBEDDED VIDEO 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkhjMM6GUeA

"If nothing else, the melody of the chorus to this chantey will be familiar to many listeners. That melody, and some of the chorus words, are shared by the song "Down by the Sea" (or "Down by the Bay"), which has become known especially AFTER the mid 1970s through sing-along kid's versions of such singers as Raffi. As such, it seems to have entered the "children's songs" cannon, and many people growing up during that time period may have been exposed to it, especially through the daytime TV shows for a kids' audience. I mention Wikipedia, not as a scholarly source, but rather as an artificat of popular culture when I mention that its entry there describes it as a "traditional children's song." I am suspicious. "Traditional", perhaps, since Raffi. Or maybe even popular as a "camping" / "scouts" song up to a couple decades earlier. But if this was a CHANTEY at some point, it must have been an ADULT song. I am inclined to think it must have been popular among navy sailors and other servicemen during the WWI years, if not earlier. It resembles lots of these "barrack" songs or marching material. There is no indication whether Hugill himself heard the song during his time at sea. It seems more likely that he is just quoting it from the 1936 German chantey collection, KNURRHAHN (by Baltzer). (Note that although it is a German collection, many of the songs sung in the German vessels were in English language, or shared with English crews.) Hugill states that this was a more popular song in German ships. That may explain some of its opacity, i.e. the fact that it is an English text as sung by German speakers. Anyways, this is clearly the sailors' adaptation or special version of the song. And note: Hugill "camouflaged" much of this obviously bawdy song about a sailor and his "gun" going "bang bang" etc. This is one of the more annoying instances of that practice, because, with this masking of words, the text seems to have become nonsense. I did not even want to deal with trying to figure out just how coyly bawdy the song was really meant to be, so I just sang the damn artificial words that Hugill gives! But if this is a sailor's version of a song that predates the 1930s (i.e. predates the Knurrhahn collection), what "original" shore song is it based on? I have had trouble finding that. The melody's similarity to a Greek song "Gialo Gialo" has been noted, but even if that were the source of a melody, it must have become a popular song in English-language culture -- the one on which this sailor's adaptation as a chantey is based. Hmmm. How have we lost the link between this early 20th century pop song and the present day "children's" song? As a chantey, it was a runaway chorus, i.e. a "stamp and go chantey" -snip- This summary includes the link for the whole chanteys project playlist. However, that link appears to be inactive [as of March 27, 2023.] ** Here's some information about Stan Hugill from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_shanty 
…."One of the most celebrated volumes on shanties produced in the 20th century is Stan Hugill's Shanties from the Seven Seas (1961).[108] It is the largest of its kind, owing to Hugill's methodology and chronological position. With respect to methodology, Hugill aimed to be as inclusive as possible—to account for and to present, if sometimes only in fragments, any and all items of shanty repertoire that he was currently able to find. Any song that he had heard or read being attested as having been ever "used as shanty" was included—regardless of whether that song was not generally known as a shanty or if its use as a shanty was rare and incidental…

Hugill readily included more recently popular songs—those that evidently were not sung until after the shanty genre was experiencing decline, but which were extant when Hugill sailed (1920s–40s). He also culled from the major collections of non-English-language sailor work songs. Hugill's practice of liberally culling from all major prior works, in combination with original material from his own field experiences, makes it a handy sourcebook for performers, but a difficult work to assess in terms of historical accuracy.[109]"….

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Here are two comments about the 1930s Greek song Gialo Gialo that is mentioned in the Hultonclint summary that is given above.

From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=108942
Subject: RE: Origins: Down by the Bay / Sea
From: GUEST,g
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 10:18 AM

"the main part of this song is very similar if not identical to an old traditional song from the Ionian islands in greece.   See from 0:28 in the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJrtOmlI4I

I'm Greek and Canadian, and for years I've wondered about this similarity. I have just read that the greek song was recorded/documented around the 1930's, but had existed for a long time before that as a traditional song passed down the generations. My father, born in the 30's, knew it as a child."

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From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=108942
Subject: RE: Origins: Down by the Bay / Sea
From: GUEST,g
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 10:21 AM

"I'll just add some more specific info, especially since the youtube link may disappear.

The Greek song is called "gialo gialo", is associated with the island of Kefalonia, and in the 30's the lyrics were finally written down by Mihalis Sougioul."
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Here's the title of that YouTube video that was mentioned in that Mudcat thread:
"Gialo Gialo Kefalonitika Kantades" by Voula Pristouris, Jul 2, 2008

The Cephalonian Brotherhood Annual Picnic 2008.

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Here's a Greek translation of Gialo Gialo that was posted to that YouTube discussion thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhJrtOmlI4I 

 Maggie Quick, 2009
"Ιn the foam, in the foam of the sea my love, my love is sleeping, please waves dont wake up her. Seashore, seashore we went and all about you we said, seashore you go, seashore you come remember my words. To get lower, to get lower the mountains to see, to see my Annoula (ANNA), to see my home white at the hill. Seashore, seashore we went and all about you we said... ... translation of a greek folk song"

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ADDENDUM - BANG BANG LULU
The "bang bang" lyrics and the "monkey" of "monkeying" lyrics in the shanty "Johnny, Come Along" remind me of portions of the late 19th century/early 20th century song "Bang Bang Lulu". Here's information about that popular bawdy song from 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_Bang_Lulu

" "Bang Bang Lulu" is a traditional American song with many variations. It derives from older songs most commonly known as "Bang Bang Rosie" in Ireland, "Bang Away Lulu" in Appalachia,[1] and "My Lula Gal" in the West.[2][6] The form "Bang Bang Lulu" became widespread in the United States from its use as a cadence during the World Wars. The song uses the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies". The modern version was produced by Marty Munsch in late 1995 and was penned by The Traumaschool Dropouts a punk rock outfit from Albany NY who gained international acclaim for its release.

Traditional song

All versions concern a woman and her various lovers. The early forms were sometimes very directly crude, violent, or infanticidal.[7] Published versions probably drastically understate the song's popularity,[1] particularly since the first mentions allude to 78[8] or 900[9] additional verses unfit for printing. Robert Gordon, the first head of the Library of Congress's Archive of American Folk Song, included his variants of Lulu among the "Inferno" section which was excluded from the library's general collection for its "bawdy and scatological subject matter".[10]

 One verse appeared in Owen Wister's 1902 novel on p. 96 The Virginian:[8]

If you go to monkey with my Looloo girl,
I'll tell you what I'll do:
I'll carve out your heart with my razor, AND
I'll shoot you with my pistol, too—"...

-end of quote-
I wonder if Bang Bang Lulu" was a source for those lyrics in Stan Hugil's adaptation of "Johnny Come Along", if not a source for the "original" lyrics for that shanty. 
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/04/my-lula-gal-and-bang-bang-lulu.html for the pancocojams post entitled "My Lula Gal" And "Bang Bang Lulu" - Information With Some Clean And Some Sanitized Examples)".

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