Originally from New York, Elliott grew up in a Jewish family and had always wanted to be a cowboy. Pressured by his parents to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, Elliott resisted and inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined the J.E. Ranch Rodeo. Although he was only with the rodeo for three months (before his parents tracked him down and he was sent home), Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, a rodeo clown who played guitar and banjo and sang songs.
Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student.
With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made three folk albums for the British label, Topic. Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, west end night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become well-known within the folk scene.
Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.
Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.
Elliott appeared on Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and played Longheno de Castro in Dylan's Renaldo and Clara.
Jack Elliott's style is distinctive in its use of excellent guitar technique matched with laconic, humorous storytelling and an emotional intensity in the singing.
Elliott's nickname is due not to his travel habits, but rather to the countless stories he would relate before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claims that it was her mother who gave him the name by remarking, "Oh Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"
He was famously parodied in on the BBC in the 1960s by Kenneth Williams as Rambling Syd Rumpo who was a recurring character on Round the Horne. His claims of authenticity as a folk artist (despite being a Jewish doctor's son from New York City) and disparagement of other folk artists were also parodied by the Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) in A Mighty Wind both in the name of their "hit" Ramblin' and in their claims that their version was more authentic than the New Main Street Singers's version.
Jack Elliott's first recording in 20 years, "South Coast", earned him his first Grammy in 1995. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998. Ramblin' Jack's long career and strained relationship with his daughter Aiyana were chronicled in her 2000 documentary, "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack".
At 75, he has recently changed labels and released "I Stand Alone" on the Anti- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; again, an idiosyncratic collection of little-known music delivered with humor and intensity. He is on record as saying his intention was to title the album "Not For The Tourists" because it was recorded in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When she asked why he did not play them in public, he replied "These songs are not for the tourists".
In The Willow Garden
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where me and my love did stray
Was a while we sitting, we courted
My love to me did say
Willie my darling, oh Willie my dear
How can you take my life
How can you stop my fair young breast
I had a bottle of poison wine
My true love did not know
Was there I poisoned that dear little girl
Down under the banks below
Stopped her with the dagger
And it was a bloody knife
When I threw her in the river
Which was a dreadful sign
My father Richie had told me
That money would set me free
If I would murder that dear little girl
Whose name was Rose Connelly
Well now he sits at his cabin door
Wiping his tear-dimmed eyes
And cussing that day that he ever did say
That darling young woman to die
My race is run, beneath the sun
Oh hell is waiting for me
I'm sorry I murder that dear little girl
Whose name was Rose Connelly
Well now I sit in my old jail cell
And out of my window can see
The spot where I murdered that dear little girl
In the shade of the willowed trail
Willie my darling, oh Willie my dear
How can you take my life
How can you stop my fair young breast
With your long and your daggering knife
Ramblin' Jack Elliott's song, "In The Willow Garden," tells a story of a lover, Willie, who poisons and stabs his beloved Rose Connelly. The song is a ballad, which is a traditional form of storytelling in music. The opening line, "Down in the willow garden/ where me and my love did stray," sets the stage for the tragic events to follow. The setting is a garden, which is often associated with love and romance. The willow tree, a symbol of grief and mourning, foreshadows the tragic ending of the song.
Willie's love for Rose is evident as he asks her, "Willie my darling, oh Willie my dear/ How can you take my life." Rose, however, is unaware of Willie's true intentions, and he proceeds to stab her with his "long and daggering knife." The line, "Stopped her with the dagger/ And it was a bloody knife," is particularly gruesome and emphasizes the violence of the act. Willie then throws Rose's body into the river and laments, "which was a dreadful sign."
The song is filled with themes of love, betrayal, and murder. Willie's motivations for killing Rose are not entirely clear, but it is hinted that his father, Richie, had something to do with it. The line, "My father Richie had told me/ That money would set me free," suggests that there were financial motivations behind the murder. This, in turn, highlights the corrupting influence of money and the destructive power of greed.
Overall, "In The Willow Garden" is a hauntingly beautiful song that tells a tragic tale of love and loss. The use of imagery, symbolism, and traditional balladry all combine to create a powerful and moving piece of music that continues to capture the imagination of listeners today.
Line by Line Meaning
Down in the willow garden
In the place surrounded by willow trees
Where me and my love did stray
Where my love and I used to wander
Was a while we sitting, we courted
We sat there for some time, expressing our love for each other
My love to me did say
At that moment, my love spoke to me
Willie my darling, oh Willie my dear
My beloved called me by my name, expressing her deep feelings for me
How can you take my life
She was questioning my intentions about taking her life
How can you stop my fair young breast
She pleaded for me to spare her young life
With your long and your daggering knife
She feared for her life because of the weapon I was carrying
I had a bottle of poison wine
I possessed a bottle of wine mixed with poison
My true love did not know
She was unaware of the poison in the wine
Was there I poisoned that dear little girl
I poisoned that girl at that place
Down under the banks below
I threw her under the riverbank
Stopped her with the dagger
I used a dagger to end her life
And it was a bloody knife
The dagger was stained with her blood
When I threw her in the river
I disposed of her body in the river
Which was a dreadful sign
This was an unfortunate turn of events
My father Richie had told me
My father instructed me
That money would set me free
He promised me freedom for the crime I committed if I take money in return
If I would murder that dear little girl
He wanted me to kill that innocent girl
Whose name was Rose Connelly
The girl's name was Rose Connelly
Well now he sits at his cabin door
Now he's sitting in front of his cabin entrance
Wiping his tear-dimmed eyes
He's wiping off his teary eyes because of his regrets
And cussing that day that he ever did say
He's cursing the day when he instructed me to murder that girl
That darling young woman to die
He's mourning the loss of that innocent girl
My race is run, beneath the sun
My time is up on this earth
Oh hell is waiting for me
The afterlife punishment awaits me
I'm sorry I murdered that dear little girl
I regret murdering the girl
Whose name was Rose Connelly
The girl's name was Rose Connelly
Well now I sit in my old jail cell
I'm currently in an old prison cell
And out of my window can see
I can see outside through my cell's window
The spot where I murdered that dear little girl
I can still see the place where I killed the girl
In the shade of the willowed trail
The incident happened under willow trees' shadow
Willie my darling, oh Willie my dear
The woman's spirit is addressing me
How can you take my life
The spirit is asking how I could take her life
How can you stop my fair young breast
She's pleading for mercy, asking me not to touch her body
With your long and your daggering knife
She's reminding me of the weapon I used to kill her
Contributed by Declan G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.