“Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go)”
Description
The Irish adventurer comes to Mr. Tapscott, seeking passage to America. Tapscott arranges for (his) voyage, (charging an exorbitant price and) leaving the young Irishman to be plundered on the voyage. The youth vows to stay on the American shore
Notes
The brothers William and James Tapscott (the former based in Britain and the latter in New York) ran a business arranging passage from Britain to America. (Often this involved shipping a girl from Ireland to meet her love, who had already gone to America.) As their clients were often completely ignorant, they frequently were able to make a very tidy profit indeed.
The "Yellow Meal" (pronounced "Yellow Male") versions of the text seem to have been adapted from a stage version.
Sam Henry has circumstantial details of the voyage of the Joshua A. Walker, mentioned in his text. Many versions, however, omit references to this ship. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "Heave Away, Me Johnnies" (tune, meter, chorus)
- cf. "Down in the Coal Mine" (part of tune)
- cf. "Yellow Gals (Doodle Let Me Go)" (lyrics)
Recordings
- Richard Maitland, "Heave Away" (AFS, 1939; on LC26)
References
- Doerflinger, pp. 61-64, "Heave Away" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the last is "Heave Away, Me Johnnies")
- Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 73-74, "We're All Bound to Go" (1 text)
- Hugill, pp. 298-301, "Lay Me Down," "Across the Western Ocean," "The Irish Emigrant", "Heave Away" (4 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 222-224]
- O'Conor, p. 56, "Yellow Meal" (1 text)
- Sandburg, p. 407, "Heave Away" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment of a shanty which could go here, or with "Heave Away, Me Johnnies," or perhaps somewhere else)
- SHenry H827, pp. 100-101, "Yellow Meal" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Mackenzie 98, "We're All Away to Sea" (1 text)
- Lomax-ABFS, pp. 485-486, "Heave Away" (1 fragmentary text, recognized by the chorus line and perhaps only slightly related, 1 tune)
- Darling-NAS, p. 325, "Heave Away" (1 text -- a fragment of a shanty which could go here, or with "Heave Away, Me Johnnies," or perhaps somewhere else)
- DT, YELLMEAL*
- Roud #15778
- BI, Doe062