O my name it is Jack Hall, chimney sweep, chimney sweep
O my name it is Jack Hall, chimney sweep
My name it is Jack Hall and I've robbed both great and small
And my neck shall pay for all when I die, when I die
And my neck shall pay for all when I die
I have candles, lily-white, hanging high, hanging high
I have candles, lily-white, hanging high
I've candles, lily-white, and I stole them all by night
And they'll fill my room with light till I die, till I die
And they'll fill my room with light till I die
I have twenty bullocks in store, that's not all, that's not all
I have twenty bullocks in store, that's not all
I've twenty bullocks in store and I'm up for twenty more
Every rogue shall have his lot, so shall I, so shall I
Every rogue shall have his lot, so shall I
I have furnished all my rooms, lot by lot, lot by lot
I have furnished all my rooms, lot by lot
I've furnished all my rooms with black brushes and black brooms
And besides a chimney pot which I stole, which I stole
And besides a chimney pot which I stole
They tell me that in gaol I'll go dry, I'll go dry
They tell me that in gaol I'll go dry
They tell me that in gaol, I shall drink no more small ale
But be hanged if ever I fail till I die, till I die
But be hanged if ever I fail till I die
I rode up Tedburn Hill in a cart, in a cart
I rode up Tedburn Hill in a cart
I rode up Tedburn Hill, there I stopped and made my will
Saying the best of friends must part, so must I, so must I
Saying the best of friends must part, so must I
Up the ladder I did grope, that's no joke, that's no joke
Up the ladder I did grope, that's no joke
Up the ladder I did grope and the hangman pulled the rope
But the devil of a word I spoke coming down, coming down
But the devil of a word I spoke coming down
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Source: Kennedy, P. Folksongs of Britain and Ireland. London: Oak Publications.
Notes:
Collected from Jack Endacott, Chagford, Devon. 1954.
Kennedy notes:
Frank Kidson wrote:
'Jack Hall was a notorious burglar. He was sold when a child to a chimney sweep for a guinea, and executed in 1701. In the eighteen-fifties a singer named Ross sang a version Sam Hall, with a very blasphemous chorus. This drew a big audience of a certain kind.'
Another song with the same tune and word pattern is Captain Kidd, executed for piracy in London in the same year. While Hall was hanged at Tyburn, Kidd was hanged in chains in Execution Dock, Wapping. The same pattern was used for Admiral Benbow, who was wounded in action off the West Indies the following year.
In the JEFDSS for 1940 there is an article about this pattern of songs, including The Diggers Song of 1649. Following these four songs are others such as The Moderator's Dream (anti-Jacobite and anti-Papal), Ye Jacobites by Name which was improved by Burns), Aikendrum (Ken ye How a Whig Can Fight?), A Young Man and a Maid (a bawdy D'URFEY: 1707), Admiral Byng (executed 1757), the American captain Paul Jones, The Praties they are Small (Irish famine song) and various Welsh and Methodist hymns.
Tedburn Hill in this song is a local Devonshire adaptation from Tyburn Hill (near Marble Arch in London) where public hangings took place. Tedburn St Mary is a village not far from Chagford, where the song was recorded.
Roud: 369 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws: L5
Child:
Related Songs: Admiral Benbow (structural) Captain Kid's Farewell to the Seas (structural) Digger's Song (structural)