"Bangum and the Boar" Bentley Ball (1919) folk song "There is a wild boar in these woods..."

"Bangum and the Boar"

Bentley Ball

Columbia A3084

1919

LYRICS: "There is a wild boar in these woods. He’ll eat our flesh and drink our blood..."

Bentley Ball was a concert baritone, lecturer, and song collector. He helped raise awareness of traditional American songs.

He was born Walter Bentley Ball in Ohio in 1878. He was the son of Bentley E. Ball.

In 1919, Ball was the first to record “Jesse James” and “Dying Cowboy”--legendary songs.

He also recorded “Gallows Tree." The Columbia label identifies this as a “North Carolina Mountain Song,” but this folk song has a history that may be older than the founding of North Carolina. The song took on a new life in the 1930s when Leadbelly recorded it, and millions of listeners have enjoyed Led Zeppelin's "Gallows Pole" (adapted from a version by American folk musician Fred Gerlach).

“Bangum and the Boar” and other songs recorded by Ball could be called folk music or traditional music.

As a young man, the singer gave recitals of old Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and English songs. By the time he was around 30 he caught the attention of some executive of Columbia and was invited into a recording studio.

His son William Bentley Ball was born October 6, 1916, in Rochester, New York. He became a prominent lawyer.

Bentley Ball died in 1957.