False William- Gibbs (NC) 1924 Chappell
[From Folk-songs of the Roanoke and Albemarle by Chappell, 1939.
R. Matteson 2014]
False William - Sung by D. B. Gibbs, 1924 Columbia, N.C.
Lady Margaret was sitting in her high bower window,
A-combing her yellow golden hair;
She saw false William and his own brown bride
As to church they drew nigh.
All down she threw her ivory comb,
Brushed back her yellow golden hair:
Off to my chamber I will go,
Alive I'll never come here.
False William he rode to the outside gate,
He rapped and rapped at the ring;
And there was no one so ready
To rise and to let him in.
O is she in her kitchen,
Or is she in her hall,
Or is she in her high chamber
Amongst them ladies all?
She is not in her kitchen,
Nor neither is she in her hall;
She is a-lying in her black coffin,
She has gone and left us all.
Slip back, slip back that coffin lid,
Roll down that sheet so fine,
And let me kiss her cold clay lips
So ofttimes she has kissed mine.
They slipped back that coffin lid,
And rolled down that winding sheet;
And William kissed her cold clay lips
And dropped into a silent sleep.
Lady Margaret was buried in the old churchyard,
False William buried there by her;
And from her heart sprang a blood-red rose,
And his a milk-white briar.
They grew, they grew to the old church-top,
'Where they could not grow any higher;
They lapped and tied in a true-love knot,
The red rose and the milk-white briar;
They lapped and tied in a true-love knot,
For all young men to admire.