Sail Away Ladies/Sally Anne

One thing about most, if not all, Old-Time music is that it's in the public domain, and nobody knows who wrote the songs. That means that over the years sometimes things get changed, titles, lyrics, even the tunes to some extent depending on who's playing them. One of the most popular and familiar old-time songs is "Sail Away Ladies" or probably more familiar as "Sally Anne" (or "Ann"). English folklorist Cecil Sharp's book English Folk-Songs from the Southern Appalachians includes "Sally Anne" as sung by Mrs. Dellie Hughes of Burnsville, NC in 1918. Mark O'Connor's 1991 album called "The New Nashville Cats" includes "The Ballad of Sally Anne," his version of this great old song. On Volume 1 of the 4-CD set called "Far in the Mountains," the tune is played by Pug Allen who calls it "Beano." The song has variously gone by other titles, such as, "Great Big Taters in the Sandy Land," and "Darneo." The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers album "Down Home" http://www.ivycreek.com/theroanmountainhilltoppers.html includes "Sally Ann," (always a big hit at their live performances) not to be confused with another song on the same album called, "Old Time Sally Ann," a completely different song.

Has anyone else heard that song or like it?

 

Yes its a standard in the old time repertoire. You will hear it and lots more great old time tunes played at places like Galax, Mt. Airy, Clifftop, and many other festivals and Fiddle/Banjo competitions all over the states but especially in the Southeast