Subscribe to our Newsletter

Johnny Sands

Back to browse page
Performer: Collins, James
Place Collected: lechlade gloucestershire united kingdom
Date collected: Between 1913 and 1916
Collector: Williams, Alfred
Roud Number: 184

This song tells the same story as the better known Blind Man be Could See, without the added detail of the wife making her husband blind by making him eat marrowbones.  The two songs have happily coexisted for years, but the Johnny Sands version is more prevalent in the USA than in England.  This is the only Gloucestershire version.

 

Notes by Gwilym Davies 13 April 2016