Title
Jim Fisk
Alternate Titles: Stokes's Verdict
Subject
Folk songs, English -- New York (State) -- Adirondack Mountains Region
Folk songs, English -- Minnesota
Ballads, English
Description
First Line: If you will listen awhile I will sing you a song
Summary: Jim Fisk, though a rich and extravagant man, "never goes back on" the poor and gives aid to many at the time of the Chicago fire. Fisk has been murdered by Stokes and the singer is afraid that Stokes's wealth will allow him to win his freedom.
Traditional Ballad Index Page: http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/LF18.html
Creator
Michael Cassius Dean
Source
Robert Winslow Gordon Cylinder Collection (AFC 1928/002) http://lccn.loc.gov/2009655325; Archive of Folk Culture; American Folklife Center; Library of Congress
Publisher
Brian T. Miller
Date
Sep. 1924
Contributor
Robert Winslow Gordon
Rights
Duplication of sound recordings may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.
Relation
Full song text taken from M.C. Dean's 1922 self-published songster The Flying Cloud And 150 Other Old Time Poems and Ballads: A Collection of Old Irish Songs, Songs of the Sea and Great Lakes, The Big Pine Woods, The Prize Ring and Others
Format
mp3
Language
en-US
Type
Music Recording
Identifier
Roud #2215
Laws F18
AFS Preservation Reel: AFS 19011A
Gordon Cylinder Record No.: G86
AFS Item No.: Misc. 144
Coverage
St. Lawrence County, New York; Minnesota
Original Format
Wax Cylinder
Duration
1:03
Bit Rate/Frequency
128 kbps
Transcription
JIM FISK.
If you will listen awhile I will sing you a song
About this glorious land of the free,
And the difference I’ll show between the rich and the poor,
In a trial by jury, you see.
If you have plenty of money you can hold up your head,
And walk out from your own prison door,
But they’ll hang you up high if you’ve no friends or gold,
Let the rich go, but hang up the poor.
In trial by jury we have nowadays,
The rich men get off swift and sure,
While they’ve thousands to pay both the jury and judge,
You can bet they’ll go back on the poor.
Let me speak of a man who is now in his grave,
A better man never was born;
Jim Fisk he was called and his money he gave
To the outcast, the poor and forlorn.
We all know he loved both women and wine,
But his heart it was right, I am sure,
Though he lived like a prince in his palace so fine,
He never went back on the poor.
If a man was in trouble he would help him along,
To drive the grim wolf from the door,
He strove to do right, though he may have done wrong,
But he never went back on the poor.
Jim Fisk was a man with his heart in his hand,
No matter what people might say,
And he did all his deeds, both the good and the bad,
In the broad, open light of the day.
With his grand six-in-hand on the beach at Long Branch,
He cut a big dash, to be sure,
But Chicago’s great fire showed the world that Jim Fisk
With his wealth still remembered the poor.
When a telegram came that the homeless that night
Were starving to death slow but sure,
The Lightning Express, manned by noble Jim Fisk,
Flew to feed all her hungry and poor.
Now what do you think of the trial of Stokes,
Who murdered the friend of the poor?
When such men get free is there any one safe,
If they step outside of their own door?
Is there a law for the rich and one for the poor?
It seems so, at least so they say,
If they hang up the poor, why hadn’t the rich
Ought to swing up the very same way?
Don’t show any favor to friend or to foe,
The beggar or prince at your door,
If you always do right you will get your reward,
If you never go back on the poor.
If you will listen awhile I will sing you a song
About this glorious land of the free,
And the difference I’ll show between the rich and the poor,
In a trial by jury, you see.
If you have plenty of money you can hold up your head,
And walk out from your own prison door,
But they’ll hang you up high if you’ve no friends or gold,
Let the rich go, but hang up the poor.
In trial by jury we have nowadays,
The rich men get off swift and sure,
While they’ve thousands to pay both the jury and judge,
You can bet they’ll go back on the poor.
Let me speak of a man who is now in his grave,
A better man never was born;
Jim Fisk he was called and his money he gave
To the outcast, the poor and forlorn.
We all know he loved both women and wine,
But his heart it was right, I am sure,
Though he lived like a prince in his palace so fine,
He never went back on the poor.
If a man was in trouble he would help him along,
To drive the grim wolf from the door,
He strove to do right, though he may have done wrong,
But he never went back on the poor.
Jim Fisk was a man with his heart in his hand,
No matter what people might say,
And he did all his deeds, both the good and the bad,
In the broad, open light of the day.
With his grand six-in-hand on the beach at Long Branch,
He cut a big dash, to be sure,
But Chicago’s great fire showed the world that Jim Fisk
With his wealth still remembered the poor.
When a telegram came that the homeless that night
Were starving to death slow but sure,
The Lightning Express, manned by noble Jim Fisk,
Flew to feed all her hungry and poor.
Now what do you think of the trial of Stokes,
Who murdered the friend of the poor?
When such men get free is there any one safe,
If they step outside of their own door?
Is there a law for the rich and one for the poor?
It seems so, at least so they say,
If they hang up the poor, why hadn’t the rich
Ought to swing up the very same way?
Don’t show any favor to friend or to foe,
The beggar or prince at your door,
If you always do right you will get your reward,
If you never go back on the poor.