Sam Hall

"Sam Hall" is an English language folk song about a unrepentant criminal condemned to death (Roud Folk Song Index number 369) for robbing the rich to feed the poor. Prior to the mid-19th century it was called "Jack Hall", after an infamous English thief, who was hanged in 1707 at Tyburn. Jack Hall's parents sold him as a climbing boy for one guinea, which is why most versions of the song identify Sam or Jack Hall as a chimney sweep. History The Fresno State University website states that the printed collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, dated to 1719, has a version of "Jack Hall". The Bodleian Library has a printed version called "Jack the Chimney Sweep", dated between 1819 and 1844. Prior to 1988, the song had been collected from about 18 singers in the oral tradition, limited to England and the United States and there had been only six sound recordings made. Comic performer W. G. Ross adapted one version in the 1840s and changed the name from "Jack Hall" to "Sam Hall". The song also appears to have been adapted to fit the region in which it was sung; some versions refer to Sam Hall being hanged at Tyburn, some at Cootehill. Also it is unclear what, if any, uncouth language was original to the song. Various versions have Sam Hall call his executioners "muckers", "fuckers", "buggers", "muggers", "critters" or "bastards". Some versions end each verse with the lines I hate you, one and all And I hate you, one and all Damn your eyes.