"John Riley" is a

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

English

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

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Roud The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

#264,

Laws Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

N42). It is also known as "Johnny Riley", "The Broken Token" and "A Fair Young Maid All in Her Garden", among other titles.

Background

The song is derived from

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

'', interpreted through the 17th century English folk ballad tradition, and tells the story of a prospective suitor who asks a woman if she will marry him. She replies that she cannot because she is betrothed to John Riley, who has gone away over the seas. The man persists, asking her whether Riley is worth waiting for and suggesting that he may have drowned, been killed in war, or married another woman. She steadfastly maintains that she will continue to wait for Riley, regardless of his possible fate. In the last stanza, the suitor reveals that he is in fact John Riley, returned from the seas, and has been testing his beloved. The song's theme, that of the "disguised true lover", has long been a theme in traditional folk ballads and several variations of this song exist.

Versions in popular culture

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

released a version of the song on his album ''Darling Corey'' (1950). *

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ( ...

wrote and recorded a version of the song for his album '' Live at Cornell'' (1957) and '' The Riverside Folklore Series, Vol. 1: Joy Joy! The Young And Wonderful Bob Gibson'' (1996). *

Odetta Odetta Holmes (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008), known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, lyricist, and a civil rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire co ...

released a live version of the song on her live album Odetta at Carnegie Hall which was recorded on April 8, 1960. *

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

recorded the song for her debut album, ''

'' (1960); her version is often credited with helping to popularise the song during the 1960s

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

. * Art Podell and Paul Potash, known as the folk duo Art & Paul, also recorded the song for their album ''Songs of Earth and Sky'' (1960). *

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ec ...

included it on her 1961 album '' A Maid of Constant Sorrow''. * Australian folk singer

Lionel Long Lionel Joaquin Paul Long OAM (1939 – 1 January 1998) was an Australian country and folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, actor and artist. Long became one of Australia's most successful and popular country and folk artists in the 1960s, relea ...

recorded a version he "learned from a seaman" on his album ''Troubadour'' in 1965. * The American

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

recorded a version of the song that was influenced by Baez's rendition on their album, '' Fifth Dimension'' (1966). The Byrds also released an instrumental version on the bonus tracks of their ''Fifth Dimension'' album. * William Pint recorded a version of the song for his album ''Round the Corner'' in 1997. * The English folk duo

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mandoc ...

recorded the song for their self-released album ''

Folk Music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

'' (1998). * Carol Noonan recorded the song for her release '' Carol Noonan - Self Titled'' (1999). *

John Langstaff John Meredith "Jack" Langstaff (December 24, 1920 – December 13, 2005), a concert baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from th ...

recorded a version of the song for his multi-disc folk music collection ''John Langstaff Sings - Archival Folk Collection'' (2004). * On the series finale of '' Andromeda'',

Doyle Doyle is a surname of Irish origin. The name is a back-formation from O'Doyle, which is an Anglicisation of the Irish (), meaning "descendant of ''Dubhghall''". There is another possible etymology: the Anglo-Norman surname ''D'Oyley'' with agglu ...

paraphrases this song when describing a dream she had. *

Niteworks Niteworks (also known by the Scottish Gaelic ''Obair Oidhche'') is an Electronic Celtic fusion band from the Isle of Skye. The band are known for writing new songs in Gaelic and melding the bagpipes and Gaelic songs such as puirt a beul with ...

released a version of this song, with vocals by Beth Malcolm, on their album A' Ghrian (2022).

Lyrics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John Riley (Song) Songs about fictional male characters English folk songs Joan Baez songs The Byrds songs