American Folksongs  & Ballads

Frankie & Johnny

The American Folk Experience

Frankie & Johnny

by John Fitzsimmons | The American Folk Experience

~Traditional

Frankie and Johnnie were lovers,
Oh, Lordie how they could love!
They swore to be true to each other,
Just as true as the stars above,
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie and Johnnie went walking
John in his brand new suit.
Then, “oh good Lawd,” says Frankie
“Don’t my Johnnie look real cute!”
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie she was a good woman,
And Johnnie was a good man,
And every dollar that she made
Went right into Johnnie’s hand,
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down tn the corner,
Just for a bucket of beer.
She said to the fat bartender,
“Has my lovinest man been here7″
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

“I don’t want to cause you no trouble,
I don’t want to tell you no lie;
But I saw your man an hour ago
With a gal named Alice Bly,
And if he’s your man, he’s a-doing you wrong.”

Frankie looked over the transom,
And found, to her great surprise,
That there on the bed sat Johnnie,
A-lovin‘ up Alice Bly.
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie drew back her kimono;
She took out her little forty-four;
Root-a-toot-toot, three times she shot
Right through that hardwood floor,
She shot her man, ’cause he done her wrong.

Roll me over easy,
Roll me over slow,
Roll me on de right side,
‘Cause de bullet hurt me so.
I was her man, but I done her wrong.

The judge said to the jury
“It’s as plain as plain can be
This woman shot her lover
It’s murder in the second degree
He was her man, though he done her wrong.

This story has no moral
This story has no end
This story only goes to show
That there ain’t no good in men
They’ll do you wrong, just as sure as you’re born

If you have any more information to share about this song or helpful links, please post as a comment. Thanks for stopping by the site! ~John Fitz

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I am indebted to the many friends who share my love of traditional songs and to the many scholars whose works are too many to include here. I am also incredibly grateful to the collector’s curators and collators of Wikipedia, Mudcat.org, MainlyNorfolk.info, and TheContemplator.com for their wise, thorough and informative contributions to the study of folk music. 

I share their research on my site with humility, thanks, and gratitude. Please cite their work accordingly with your own research. If you have any research or sites you would like to share on this site, please post in the comment box.  Thanks!

Source: Wikipedia

"Frankie and Johnny" (sometimes spelled "Frankie and Johnnie"; also known as "Frankie and Albert", "Frankie's Man", "Johnny", or just "Frankie") is a murder ballad, a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Johnny making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Frankie is then arrested; in some versions of the song she is also executed.

History

The song was inspired by one or more actual murders. One of these took place in an apartment building located at 212 Targee Street in St. Louis, Missouri, at 2:00 on the morning of October 15, 1899. Frankie Baker (1876 – 1952),[1] a 22-year-old woman, shot her 17-year-old lover Allen (also known as "Albert") Britt in the abdomen. Britt had just returned from a cakewalk at a local dance hall, where he and another woman, Nelly Bly (also known as "Alice Pryor" and no relation to the pioneering reporter who adopted the pseudonym Nellie Bly or the "Nelly Bly" who was the subject of an 1850 song by Stephen Foster), had won a prize in a slow-dancing contest. Britt died of his wounds four days later at the City Hospital.[2][3][4] On trial, Baker claimed that Britt had attacked her with a knife and that she acted in self-defense; she was acquitted and died in a Portland, Oregon mental institution in 1952.[citation needed]

In 1899, popular St Louis balladeer Bill Dooley composed "Frankie Killed Allen" shortly after the Baker murder case.[5] The first published version of the music to "Frankie and Johnny" appeared in 1904, credited to and copyrighted by Hughie Cannon, the composer of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey"; the piece, a variant version of whose melody is sung today, was titled "He Done Me Wrong" and subtitled "Death of Bill Bailey".[6]

The song has also been linked to Frances "Frankie" Stewart Silver, convicted in 1832 of murdering her husband Charles Silver in Burke County, North Carolina. Unlike Frankie Baker, Silver was executed.[3][7]

First page of the sheet music

Another variant of the melody, with words and music credited to Frank and Bert Leighton, appeared in 1908 under the title "Bill You Done Me Wrong"; this song was republished in 1912 as "Frankie and Johnny", this time with the words that appear in modern folk variations:

Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed that he would leave her
Said he was going away
He's never coming home

Also:

Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Three times with a rooty-toot-toot

The 1912 "Frankie and Johnny" by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields also identifies "Nellie Bly" as the new girl to whom Johnny has given his heart. What has come to be the traditional version of the melody was also published in 1912, as the verse to the song "You're My Baby", with music is attributed to Nat. D. Ayer.[8]

The familiar "Frankie and Johnny were lovers" lyrics first appeared (as "Frankie and Albert") in On the Trail of Negro Folksongs by Dorothy Scarborough, published in 1925; a similar version with the "Frankie and Johnny" names appeared in 1927 in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag.[9]

Several students of folk music have asserted that the song long predates the earliest published versions; according to Leonard Feather in his Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz[10] it was sung at the Siege of Vicksburg (1863) during the American Civil War[11] and Sandburg said it was widespread before 1888, while John Jacob Niles reported that it emerged before 1830.[3] The fact, however, that the familiar version did not appear in print before 1925 is "strange indeed for such an allegedly old and well-known song", according to music historian James J. Fuld, who suggests that it "is not so ancient as some of the folk-song writers would have one believe."[12]

Recordings

"Frankie and Johnny"
Single by Brook Benton
from the album The Boll Weevil Song and 11 Other Great Hits
B-side"It's Just a House Without You"
ReleasedAugust 1961 (1961-August)
RecordedJuly 1961
GenrePop, R&B
Length2:27
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)Traditional, arranged by Brook Benton
Producer(s)Shelby Singleton
Brook Benton singles chronology
"The Boll Weevil Song"
(1961) 		"Frankie and Johnny"
(1961) 		"Revenge"
(1961)
"Frankie and Johnny"
Single by Sam Cooke
B-side"Cool Train"
ReleasedJuly 1963
Recorded1963
GenreR&B
Length2:38
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Traditional, arranged by Brook Benton
Producer(s)Shelby Singleton
Sam Cooke singles chronology
"Another Saturday Night"
(1963) 		"Frankie and Johnny"
(1963) 		"Little Red Rooster"
(1963)

At least 256 recordings of "Frankie and Johnny" have been made since the early 20th century. The very first recording was made in London in 1912 by American singer Gene Greene.[13] Later singers include:

A 1966 recording by Elvis Presley became a gold record as the title song of a Presley movie. It reached #14 in Canada.[15]

The earliest country recording of a Frankie song is Ernest Thompson's 1924 Columbia recording of "Frankie Baker", which is listed in Tony Russell's Country Music Records A Discography, 1921-1942, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0195366211. Thompson was a blind street singer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

As a jazz standard it has also been recorded by numerous bands and instrumentalists including Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Count Basie, Bunny Berigan, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Ray Brown (musician), and Benny Goodman. Champion Jack Dupree set his version in New Orleans, retitling it "Rampart and Dumaine".

Ace Cannon recorded an instrumental version for his 1994 album Entertainer.

Johnny Cash version

"Frankie's Man, Johnny"
Single by Johnny Cash
A-side"Frankie's Man, Johnny"
"You Dreamer You"
Released1959 (1959)
GenreCountry
LabelColumbia 4-41371
Songwriter(s)traditional, arr. Johnny Cash[16]
Johnny Cash singles chronology
"Luther Played the Boogie"
(1959) 		"Frankie's Man, Johnny"
(1959) 		"Katy Too" / "1959"
Music video
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, mono)
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, stereo)
on YouTube
"Frankie and Johnny"
Single by Elvis Presley
B-side"Please Don't Stop Loving Me"
ReleasedMarch 1, 1966
RecordedMay 14, 1965
StudioRadio Recorders, Hollywood
GenreRock and roll
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Alex Gottlieb/Fred Karger/Ben Weisman
Elvis Presley singles chronology
"Milky White Way" "Frankie and Johnny" "Come What May (Elvis Presley song)"

Johnny Cash released this song under the title "Frankie's Man, Johnny" as his third Columbia single[17] (Columbia 4-41371, with "You Dreamer You" on the opposite side)[18][19][20][21][22] in April 1959.[18]

"Frankie's Man, Johnny" reached #9 on the Billboard country chart[23] and #57 on the Hot 100.,[17][24] while "You Dreamer You" made it to #13 on the country chart[25] and didn't enter the Hot 100.

Charts

Chart (1959) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[26] 9
US Billboard Hot 100[27] 57

Films

The story of Frankie and Johnny has been the inspiration for several films, including Her Man (1930, starring Helen Twelvetrees), Frankie and Johnny (1936, starring Helen Morgan), and Frankie and Johnny (1966, starring Elvis Presley). Terrence McNally's 1987 play, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, was adapted for a 1991 film titled Frankie and Johnny starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer.

In 1930, director and actor John Huston wrote and produced a puppet play titled Frankie and Johnnie based on the Frankie Baker case. One of Huston's main sources was his interview with Baker and Britt's neighbor Richard Clay.[28][29]

Comedian Harry Langdon performed the song in his 1930 short The Fighting Parson, in a variant on his vaudeville routine originally performed in blackface. Mae West inserted her ballad into her successful Broadway play Diamond Lil. West sang the ballad again in her 1933 Paramount film She Done Him Wrong, which takes its title from the refrain, substituting genders. She also sang it many years later (1978) on the CBS television special Back Lot U.S.A. The song was used in the 1932 film Red-Headed Woman, in a scene where actress Jean Harlow's character is drinking and lamenting having been jilted by her married lover. It is also sung by a river boat crew in Bed of Roses, a film released the following year. Yvonne De Carlo sings the song while masquerading as an opera singer in the 1949 film The Gal Who Took the West. Moira Kelly sings it in the 1996 film Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story.

The 1933 pre-Code film Arizona to Broadway features drag performer Gene Malin singing this song as he portrays Ray Best, a female impersonator and Mae West type.[30] Malin's performance is considered one of the earliest performances, if not the earliest, of a female impersonator on film.[31][32]

A dazzling musical number from the 1956 MGM film Meet Me in Las Vegas featured Cyd Charisse and dancer John Brascia acting out the roles of Frankie and Johnny while Sammy Davis Jr. sang the song. Mia Farrow, in the role of Jacqueline De Bellefort, sang/hummed a drunken rendition of the song in the 1978 version of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, just before she attempts to shoot her former lover, Simon Doyle, played by Simon MacCorkindale.

Noah Baumbach's 1997 film Highball features a scene where this song is sung as a karaoke tune.

The climax of Robert Altman's 2006 film A Prairie Home Companion is Lindsay Lohan's rendition of the song with quasi-improvisatory lyrics by Garrison Keillor.

The tune is often used for comic effect in animated cartoon shorts, such as the 1932 Disney cartoon The Klondike Kid (starring Mickey Mouse) and various ones produced by Warner Bros. or MGM in the 1940s and 1950s, as a theme or leitmotif for a meretricious or zaftig woman. The song was the basis of a 1951 UPA cartoon Rooty Toot Toot, directed by John Hubley. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.

The song's intro is featured in the 1929 film Weary River. It is sung by the main character Jerry Larrabee played by Richard Barthelmess. The character is a gangster reformed by music. Weary River costars Betty Compson, who played Alice Gray, the faithful sweetheart of Larrabee, who did not like him singing Frankie and Johnny. A remarkable feature of this film is part silent film and part talkie. The film which was directed by Frank Lloyd, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Directing.

Other media

"Frankie and Johnnie" is parodied in act two, scene five of E. E. Cummings' 1927 play Him.[33]

In Never Kick a Woman, a Popeye the Sailor cartoon short released by Fleischer Studios on August 30, 1936, the song plays in the background when a sexy female boxer, based on film star Mae West, appears and attempts to steal Popeye away from Olive Oyl.

In Robert A. Heinlein's 1954 science fiction novel The Star Beast, Mr Kiku sings lyrics from Frankie and Johnny in three instances, the final being in the penultimate paragraph--- "This story has no moral, this story has no end. This story only goes to show that there ain't no good in men."

Chicago's Redmoon Theater Company presented an adaptation of the Frankie and Johnny story at Steppenwolf Theater in 1997.[34] The soundtrack was composed by Michael Zerang and performed by Fred Armisen, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and Jeremy Ruthrauff.[35]

The song was sung in a saloon by a leading lady in an episode of the TV show Cheyenne.

In The Beverly Hillbillies episode “The Clampetts Go Hollywood,” Granny sings a rendition of Frankie and Johnny.”

The song is briefly referenced in the Fantastic Four episode "When Calls Galactus", in reference to the characters of Frankie Raye and Johnny Storm.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Brown, Cecil (2011). "Frankie and Albert/Johnny". In Smith, Jessie Carney (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American popular culture (1st ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC_CLIO, LLC. pp. 542–546. ISBN 978-0-313-35796-1.
  2. ^ Saint Louis Police Veteran's Association. "Kiel Opera House and Four Courts and the story of Frankie and Johnny". Saint Louis Police Veteran's Historical Illustrated Photos. St. Louis, MO: Saint Louis Police Veteran's Association. Archived from the original on 2016-11-06. Retrieved 2012-01-14.
  3. ^ a b c "Frankie and Albert [Laws I3]". Csufresno.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  4. ^ "Bluegrass Messengers". Archived from the original on 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
  5. ^ "It's Frankie And Albert Instead Of Johnny" Lakeland Ledger, May 29, 1975.
  6. ^ "Hughie Cannon's version". Parlorsongs.com. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
  7. ^ "The Untold Story of Frankie Silver". Archived from the original on 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
  8. ^ Fuld, p. 234.
  9. ^ Fuld, p. 235.
  10. ^ Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, editors (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8, ISBN 0-19-532000-X.
  11. ^ "MELODY LANE SONGS - (PAGE 1) - 1840 - 1960". Nfo.net. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
  12. ^ Fuld, pp. 233-235.
  13. ^ Short excerpt from Greene's recording on "Before The Big Bang"
  14. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - October 23, 1961".
  15. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - May 9, 1966" (PDF).
  16. ^ "Frankie's Man, Johnny / You Dreamer You". Discogs. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  17. ^ a b John M. Alexander (16 April 2018). The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-1-61075-628-0.
  18. ^ a b Steve Turner (2005-10-30). The Man Called CASH: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend. Thomas Nelson. pp. 245–. ISBN 978-1-4185-7809-1.
  19. ^ Joel Whitburn (2002). Top Country Singles, 1944 to 2001: Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Country Singles Charts, 1944-2001. Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-151-2.
    Joel Whitburn (2005). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs: 1944-2005, Billboard. Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-165-9.
  20. ^ Tim Neely (2004-05-01). Goldmine Records & Prices. Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87349-781-7. Frankie's Man, Johnny You Dreamer You 41371.
  21. ^ George Albert (1984-01-01). The Cash Box Country Singles Charts, 1958-1982. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-1685-5.
  22. ^ Peter Lewry (2001). I've Been Everywhere: A Johnny Cash Chronicle. Helter Skelter. ISBN 978-1-900924-22-1.
  23. ^ "Johnny Cash Frankie's Man, Johnny Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  24. ^ "Johnny Cash Frankie's Man, Johnny Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  25. ^ "Johnny Cash You Dreamer You Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  26. ^ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  27. ^ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  28. ^ "Frankie Baker". Retrieved 2012-04-28.
  29. ^ "item on Frankie Baker". 1975-05-29. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
  30. ^ McPherson, Ken (12 April 2007). "Jean Malin-Arizona to Broadway-1933 - video Dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  31. ^ McPherson, Ken (12 April 2007). "Jean Malin-Arizona to Broadway-1933 - video Dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  32. ^ "Jean Malin". queermusicheritage.com. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  33. ^ Freidman, Norman (1958). E. E. Cummings: The Magic Maker. The MacMillan Company. p. 225. LCCN 58-12439.
  34. ^ Jones, Chris (June 3, 1997). "Redmoon Troupe Pushes Fable Into Dark Territory". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  35. ^ Couture, François. "Redmoon Theater's The Ballad of Frankie and Johnny (Original Score)". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 May 2011.

References

  • James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk, 3rd Edition (New York: Dover, 1985).
  • Morgan, Stacy I. 2017. Frankie and Johnny: Race, Gender, and the Work of African American Folklore in 1930s America. Austin: University of Texas Press. 261 pages. ISBN 9781477312087
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_and_Johnny_(song)

    • Originally titled “Frankie and Albert,” this traditional murder ballad was inspired by the real-life crime of passion committed by Frankie Baker in 1899. Frankie discovered her lover, Albert Britt, had been with another woman and took revenge by shooting him at a boardinghouse in St. Louis, Missouri. She would be acquitted under plea of self-defense.

      The origins of the song as we know it today are a bit murky. That same year, local singer Bill Dooley composed a song sensationalizing the case, and it became a popular mainstay in local saloons before its official publication as “Frankie and Johnny” in 1904. The song was not credited to Dooley, however, but to ragtime composer/lyricist Hughie Cannon.

      Frank and Bert Leighton’s 1908 version, which was published as “Frankie and Johnny” in 1912, brought us the familiar opening:

      Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
      They had a quarrel one day

      Countless covers over the years have provided many variations of the song. Sometimes the duo are “lovers” instead of “sweethearts.” Johnny’s mistress can be Alice Pry or Nelly Bly. Sometimes, Frankie is cheered by onlookers as she shoots Johnny and is exonerated; other times, she’s executed.

    • Many artists have recorded this, including Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Sam Cooke sang a cleaner version than most, which is the most popular contemporary cover. Here are the charting versions in America:

      1959, #57 – Johnny Cash
      1961, #20 – Brook Benton
      1963, #14 – Sam Cooke
      1964, #75 – The Greenwood County Singers
      1966, #25 – Elvis Presley

    • Elvis Presley starred in a 1966 movie called Frankie And Johnny where he performed the song. In 1991, another movie of the same name was released starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, who in one scene banter over the song when they realize they are named Frankie and Johnny. The exchange:

      Pfeiffer: Didn’t they kill each other?
      Pacino: No. She killed him. You got the edge there.

    • In 1942, the real Frankie Baker filed a defamation suit against Republic Pictures for the 1936 film Frankie and Johnnie, starring Helen Morgan and Chester Morris. Frankie lost the lawsuit and was never able to escape her reputation as a murderer, though she had been acquitted. She said during the (defamation) court proceedings: “I was pointed out as the worst woman in the world and introduced as the Frankie of song, instead of Miss Baker.”
    • Brook Benton’s R&B version was included in the 2011 compilation Mad Men: A Musical Companion.
    • Anika Noni Rose performed this in the 2011 miniseries Bag of Bones, based on the Stephen King novel. Rose played Sara Tidwell in the movie.

    National Public Radio: Revisiting “Frankie & Johnny”

    <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4185374/4185375" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

    More Links…

     

    ~A good history of the song on Mentalfloss.com

    Performances, Workshops, Resources & Recordings

    The American Folk Experience is dedicated to collecting and curating the most enduring songs from our musical heritage.  Every performance and workshop is a celebration and exploration of the timeless songs and stories that have shaped and formed the musical history of America. John Fitzsimmons has been singing and performing these gems of the past for the past forty years, and he brings a folksy warmth, humor and massive repertoire of songs to any occasion. 

    Festivals & Celebrations Coffeehouses School Assemblies Library Presentations Songwriting Workshops Artist in Residence House Concerts Pub Singing Irish & Celtic Performances Poetry Readings Campfires Music Lessons Senior Centers Voiceovers & Recording

    ““Beneath the friendly charisma is the heart of a purist gently leading us from the songs of our lives to the timeless traditional songs he knows so well…”

     

    Globe Magazine

    Join Fitz at The Colonial Inn

    “The Nobel Laureate of New England Pub Music…”

    Scott Alaric

    Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground

    On the Green, in Concord, MA Every Thursday Night for over thirty years…

    “A Song Singing, Word Slinging, Story Swapping, Ballad Mongering, Folksinger, Teacher, & Poet…”

    Theo Rogue

    Songcatcher Rag

    Fitz’s Recordings

    & Writings

    Songs, poems, essays, reflections and ramblings of a folksinger, traveler, teacher, poet and thinker…

    Download for free from the iTunes Bookstore

    Now Available on iTunes!

    “A Master of Folk…”

    The Boston Globe

    Fitz’s now classic recording of original songs and poetry…

    Download from the iTunes Music Store

    Now Available on iTunes!

    “A Masterful weaver of song whose deep, resonant voice rivals the best of his genre…”

    Spirit of Change Magazine

    “2003: Best Children’s Music Recording of the Year…”

    Boston Parent's Paper

    Fitz & The Salty Dawgs Amazing music, good times and good friends…

    Listen here

    TheCraftedWord.org

    Writing help

    when you need it…

    “When the eyes rest on the soul…that’s Fitzy…”

    Lenny Megliola

    WEEI Radio

    Reflecting on Literature

    by | March 27, 2017 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    I am constantly asking my students (and myself) to reflect on the literature they, and I, read. As I have grown older—and not necessarily wiser—I find myself only reading literature that I am sure will prod me out of my intellectual and emotional torpor, like a lizard...
    Read More

    A Redemptive Moment

    by | November 15, 2013 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    I see the clock ticking towards 7:00. The kids are deep in their weekday world of homework, juggling soccer balls around the house, watching TV, but I am in my “got to rally” and get to the inn mode that happens very Thursday. Tonight I am tired. I’ll admit it, but...
    Read More

    The Threshing

    by | July 11, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

    I trace her charging through the cornfield shaking the timbers of the ready crop startling up the blackbirds, and surprisingly, a jay. It’s the jay who startles me—
who with two quick pulls wrests itself from the transient green, screaming back from its familiar scrub...
    Read More

    Joshua Sawyer

    by | August 11, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Poetry | 0 Comments

    I doubt I’d ever have taken this road
    had I known how fallen it really was
    to disrepair: driving comically,
    skirting ruts and high boulders, grimacing
    at every bang on the oil pan.
    I tell you it’s the old road to Wendell —
    that they don’t make them like this anymore.

    Read More

    The Silver Apples of the Moon.

    by | January 29, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    Stories are a communal currency of humanity. ― Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights The most powerful and enduring connection we share as a human race is our desire and need to share stories. We engage in the art of storytelling more than most of us ever realize; whether we...
    Read More

    Moby Dick: Chapters 42-51

    by | March 1, 2015 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    A literary reflection to my students... The lowering for whales, the appearance of Fedallah's crew, the vivid descriptions of the first chase in a sudden and unrelenting gale, the fatalistic joy of resigning oneself to fate, the awesome poetic intensity of Melville's...
    Read More

    Make Something out of Something

    by | February 26, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    It's hard to make chicken salad out of chicken manure      Dirty hands are a good sign, so hopefully, you got some mental mud on your hands and created some content to work with today.  To a starving man, any food is good food--unless it...
    Read More

    China Journal: Part Three

    by | July 30, 2015 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    III My teachers could have ridden with Jesse James For all the time they stole from me... ~Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America      Today it was a temple built into the mountainside west of West Lake. Mr. Toe drove us out there. In most ways I just follow Rob...
    Read More

    Pruning

    by | July 14, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

    These trees have driven so many friends batty, wedged in unstable crotches, embracing hollow, heart-rotted limbs, reaching tentatively, maddened with indecision. From a distance your gestures are very lobsterlike— waving a last embattled claw, as if dueling some...
    Read More

    The Philanthropy of Maynard

    by | December 13, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

     I woke up today with chores on my mind. My buddy Josh LoPresti lent me his woodsplitter, and I had dreams of a mindless day splitting wood and heaving it into a pile for my kids to stack along the fence. But the dryer was broken, and it needed to be fixed. Margret's...
    Read More

    Diesel Lullaby

    by | July 5, 2019 | Journal | 0 Comments

    I've been spending a lot of time lately writing sketches of songs—some more complete than others. I have found that it takes time for a song to evolve into its final form, so what I have posted here is more the end of the beginning, not the end. Denise gave me the...
    Read More

    The Tide

    by | August 31, 2014 | Poetry | 0 Comments

    They are building a world and the plastic is fading: Margaret and Eddie's buckets are split, pouring out the warm Atlantic as they race along the tidal flat, filling pools connected by frantically dug canals. Tommy squats naked and screams in guttural joy at the...
    Read More

    Going Google?

    by | July 1, 2014 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    When you find yourself in the majority, it's time to join the minority ~Mark Twain I have to admit, Google is pretty impressive. The whole set of features that are offered to the public and to educators for free is pretty astounding: email, document creation and...
    Read More

    The Snow

    by | July 13, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

    has dropped a seamlessness before the plows and children can patch it back to a jagged and arbitrary quilting putting borders to design and impulse. I imagine myself falling everywhere softly, whispering, I am here, and I am here.
    Read More

    All You Need is Love

    by | November 16, 2013 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

        The day grew warm today, as did my mood. I did a couple of shows at my school’s diversity day. It was good to see girls there and the obvious racial differences. It was comforting to see a sea of color with a smattering of white instead of the other way around. My...
    Read More

    Many Miles To Go

    by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

    I see it in your eyes
    and in the ways you try to smile;
    in the ways you whisper—I don’t know—
    and put it all off for a while;
    then you keep on keeping on
    in the only way you know:
    you’re scared of where you’re going
    and who’ll catch you down below.

    Read More

    The Street I Never Go Down

    by | November 18, 2017 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

    As is often the case, I sit here with good intent to write my end-of-term comments--a dry litany of repeated phrases dulled by. obligation--and find myself instead writing poetry, the stuff I would rather share with my students who already know that I care dearly...
    Read More

    Last of the Boys

    by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

    Come on over here
    and I’ll buy the next round:
    cold beer and some shooters
    for the boys on the town;
    Darby ain’t drinkin’
    so let’s live it up
    ‘cause he’ll drive us all home
    in his company truck

    Jesus Christ, Jimmy,
    man you say that you’re well;
    I say we drive into Boston
    and stir up some hell;
    put a cap on the weekend,
    a stitch in the night,
    watch the Pats play on Sunday
    and the welterweight fight.

    That’s all she wrote boys,
    there ain’t any more;
    that’s why we’re standing here;
    that’s what it’s for.
    That’s why we all go on working all day
    busting our ass for short pay:
    ~Hey…

    Read More

    Paris: 11/13/15

    by | November 14, 2015 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    It is a sad day for humanity. Another sad day on top of many others happening every day--many in places we hear about only obliquley and sometimes not at all. Paris is that much closer to home for most of us here and in Europe, but freedom and tolerance has to...
    Read More

    The Old Tote Road

    by | July 25, 2019 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    I clabber down the old tote road towards the red pine forest, leaning on my staff, skirting boulder-strewn ruts and small gullies carved out by two days of heavy rain. It is only a mile or so from our cabin, still, my wife makes me wear a pouch with an iPhone and an...
    Read More

    No Dad To Come Home To

    by | August 12, 2014 | Dawghouse, Songs | 0 Comments

    Rain’s falling outside of Boston—
    Thank God I’m not working tonight.
    I’ve got six of my own,
    And a stepdaughter at home,
    And a momma keeping things right.
    I wonder if they’re at the table
    With their puzzles, their papers and pens?
    When I get off the highway
    And pull in that driveway,
    Will they run to the window again?

    Read More

    Joshua Sawyer Podcast

    by | November 11, 2017 | Fitz Podcasts, Journal | 0 Comments

    Read More

    The Mystery Within

    by | August 15, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

    EJ wanted a banana tree for Christmas so that early morning brought a plastic bag, a few meager roots and no directions. I bought some potting soil and a square cedar box EJ placed deliberately by a westward window. He gently splayed the roots, pressed the soil, and...
    Read More

    The Litter in Concord

    by | July 12, 2016 | Journal | 0 Comments

    I have been following a Facebook thread about the movement in my beloved hometown of Concord to ban plastic water bottles, plastic bags and styrofoam cups. I am trying to discern whether or not my initial responses are pure and true and not simply reactionary and...
    Read More

    The Enigma

    by | August 11, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

    Black Pond is not as deepas it is dark, dammedsome century agobetween ledges of granite and an outcropping of leaning fir, huckleberry, and white pine. For years I have paddled and trolled;swam, fished, sailed and sometimessimply tread water in the night trying to...
    Read More

    In Reply To Einstein

    by | July 14, 2014 | Poetry, Raccoon | 0 Comments

    *God casts the die, not the dice. ~Alfred Einstein I am cold down the neck, turtling my head to showers of ice that fall dancing and skidding on skins of crusted snow. I hold my breath when I step, inflating hopes of a weightlessness, and so be undetected
to the play...
    Read More

    Hallows Lake

    by | August 2, 2014 | Journal | 0 Comments

    Foreward Thanks for taking a look at this "work in progress. It originally started out as an experimental one-man play. Maybe it still will be. Later I thought of making it into a novel, but it's hard to see it happening as there is (intentionally) no real plot, and...
    Read More

    What’s in a Song

    by | May 4, 2014 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet. ~Plato         Writing a song is not just an exercise in seeking some kind of future fame. It is...
    Read More

    Wisdom

    by | May 13, 2016 | Essays, Journal | 0 Comments

    Wisdom starts in non-action… The doing and non-doing are the equal balance. Without the luxury of contemplation there would not be a prioritizing of need versus want. Wisdom balances physical reality… Wisdom does not shuffle tasks out of view but finds a way to...
    Read More

    Evolution

    by | August 19, 2014 | Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

    The coyotes and fisher cats seem intent on striking some new deal with each other to toy with our fears in this gentleman's wilderness— patches of dense woods dotted with overgrown fields, riven and intersected by highways, powerlines and quiet, suburban...
    Read More

    Busy…

    by | September 17, 2014 | Journal | 0 Comments

    The start of the school year, and I have literally spent every free moment working on what is ostensibly pretty cool stuff, methinks...but it is work in every sense of the word, so I do miss those long summer mornings when  could literally write to my heart and heads...
    Read More

    Life Ain’t Hard; Its Just a Waterfall

    by | August 12, 2014 | Fires in the Belly, Songs | 0 Comments

    You say, hey,
    who are you to say that you’re the one
    to go telling me just where I’m coming from.
    You can have your cake
    but don’t frost me ‘til I’m done.
    I can’t be fixed and I can’t afford to stall;
    because life ain’t hard it’s just a waterfall.

    Read More

    Quit Your Whining

    by | January 31, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    Anything worth succeeding in is worth failing in~Ben Franklin     "Quit your whining and complaining" is probably a clause that can easily be translated into every language in every culture on earth, for, from what I know and have seen in the world, bitching about...
    Read More

    The Storm of Fallibility

    by | October 29, 2017 | Journal | 0 Comments

           One good cigar is better than two bad cigars, or so it seems right now. It is a beautiful and stormy night--pouring rain and howling wind, and I thought a good smoke would be a fitting end to a busy and over-booked week. As it goes, I bought a couple of cheap...
    Read More

    Let It Snow, Let It Snow…

    by | February 2, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    You can't kill time without wounding eternity. ~Henry David Thoreau       Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...but don't let it totally define your day. Most of us see a snow day as an unexpected vacation day, though really what it is could be called "a day of...
    Read More

    Presenting…

    by | February 3, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    "Anything worth succeeding in, is worth failing in."~by Edison?      A contractor friend showed up at my house a few weeks ago just after I finished making the hearth and installing my new wood/coal stove. He complimented me on how "awesome" it looked. I then lamented...
    Read More

    The Most Unoriginal Teacher

    by | February 5, 2014 | Essays, Journal, Teaching | 0 Comments

    Yes, that's me. I am a fraudster, thief, and plagiarizer of the worst magnitude. I copy the very styles of classic poets; I steal from Noble Laureate novelists, and I copy words from every and any source I can. And even worse, I steal from myself. If you even dare to...
    Read More

    A New Hearth

    by | December 7, 2013 | Journal | 0 Comments

    It has been a long time since I wrote a simple old "this is what I am going to do today" post. So this is what I am going to do today: [and trust me, it will have nothing--absolutely nothing--to do with school work:)] Before the true winter settles in, I am going to...
    Read More

    When the same thing happens again

    by | October 7, 2017 | Crows and Swallows, Journal, Poetry | 0 Comments

    I wonder if God is testing me, giving Me some affable warning Or, perhaps, a more Stern rebuke, replaying A foolish mistake, Rehashing and reminding me Of a harsher possibility. It is only a small 10 mm wrench tightening A loose bolt on the throttle body, slipping...
    Read More

    Ghetto of Your Eye

    by | November 11, 2015 | Fires in the Belly, Journal, Songs | 0 Comments

    A Veteran's Day Remembrance I wrote this song back in the winter of 1989 in the dining car of a steam driven train, somewhere along the Trans-Siberian railway, after meeting a group of Russian soldiers fresh from battle in Afghanistan—that poor country that has been a...
    Read More

    Contact John Fitzsimmons...and thanks!