Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday, Poor Jack went to plow...

[jsc1953]

My father used to sing a little ditty while making pancakes, that went:

Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday, Poor Jack went to plow
His wife made him pancakes and didn't know how
She flipped them and tossed them and burnt them so black
She made them so awful she poisoned Poor Jack.

I've never heard this anywhere else (although now I've taught it to my kids), and I googled the lyrics and didn't get any hits.

Anyone else heard this, and know the origins?

[Chronos]

Well, I can shed some light on it. In many parts of the world, pancakes are a traditional dish for Shrove Tuesday (AKA Mardi Gras AKA Carnival, the day before Ash Wednesday). So that's why Jack's wife would be making pancakes even if she didn't know how.

[Daithi Lacha]

I know my mother-in-law in Dublin always refers to it as "Pancake Tuesday."

[jsc1953]

I was aware of the pancake connection -- I think there's a pancake race somewhere in England today. I was hoping somebody would recognize the song, though. Oh well.

[Kimstu]

Apparently a similar verse (http://www.folkplay.info/Notts/Td00495.htm) is mentioned as current around the turn of the 20th century, in the book Rites and Riots: Folk Customs of Britain and Europe, by Bob Pegg:

Gain was also one of the motives for my paternal grandparents when, as children some eighty years ago, they too went around on Plough Monday through the streets of Long Eaton, a small town in East Derbyshire. They had no plough, but they did black their faces and turn their jackets inside out, and they carried brooms (though not to sweep with). Sometimes the boys would wear their mother's jackets. They went around the houses singing:

Plough Monday, Shrove Tuesday when the boys went to plough,
My mother made some pancakes and she didn't know how.
She buttered them, she sugared them, she made them turn black
She put some rat poison in to poison poor Jack.

[xash]

Moved to CS.

-xash
General Questions Moderator

[ddgryphon]

Well, at the risk of being useless, I'll guess your father grew up in an Irish Household. It sounds like an Irish ditty -- hitting several folk elements in a single quatrain.

But that's just my guess, FWIW.

[ddgryphon]

Changing the spelling of plow to plough I came up with:

http://www.folktrax.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/menus/search%20for%20titles_pa_pay.htm

About midway down the page is a CD called Panama that seems to have a variant of your song on it that begins "Soft Tuesday, Soft Tuesday, poor jack went to plough"

I know it isn't much, but hope it helps.

[jsc1953]

Close (relatively); his father was born in England.

[ddgryphon]

Close (relatively); his father was born in England.


So many traditions traded back and forth, not surprising. However the little research I did on this bears an English rather than Irish mark. Apparently there are European variants from all over the continent as well.

Just, if you can believe it, precious little on the web.

[jsc1953]

Thanks for your help, dd -- plow/plough was a brilliant.

[tally1302]

At school we used to sing:

Shrove Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday when Jack went to plow
His mother made pancakes but she didn't know how
She turned them and burned them and when they turned black
She put salt and pepper on and poisoned poor jack

[srn65]

I'm in my 50s and was brought up in the SW of England - I remember learning this song at school in the mid 60s - my memory of it is:

Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Jack went to plough
His mother, made pancakes but she didn't know how.
She boiled them, and spoiled them and when they were black
She put them on the table and poisoned poor Jack!

I think there were other verses but I'm afraid I don't recall them!

I've looked for a few years to see if I could find mention of this song (with no success) so was intrigued to find your post - thanks :)

[srn65]

I should add that there are still numerous 'pancake races' held in England every year - even the politicians have one! Go to the BBC website and type in 'pancake race' in the search field (top right hand corner of their webpage and you'll see!

[That Don Guy]

The two pancake races most associated with Fat/Shrove Tuesday are in Olney, England, and Liberal, Kansas, USA. They even have something called the "International Pancake Race," which is just comparing the best times of the two separate races.

Supposedly, "fat Tuesday" (French: "Mardi Gras") comes from the fact that people would use up all of the fat they had in the house that day, as Lent starts the next day, and the restrictions of what you could eat and when were much stricter way back then.