Rosemary- Mrs. Rachel Henry (AR) 1951 Parler
[From Ozark Folksong Collection- Reel 97, Item 2. Collected by Irene Carlisle. Transcribed by Mary C. Parler, stanzas are arbitrary.
R. Matteson 2018]
Rosemary - Mrs. Rachel Henry of Spring Valley, Arkansas March 9, 1951 (Learned from a man she knew as a child, called "Little Sam" Johnson, near Goshen, Arkansas.)
As you go through at yandos town,
Rosemary went on,
You take my greatest regards to that young lady,
And tell her that she can be a sweetheart of mine.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
Without either stitch, needle or seam,
And then she can be a true lover of mine.
Tell her to wash it in yonders dry well
Where there never was water and rain never fell
Rosemary went on,
And tell her to hang it on a green thorn
Where there never was a thorn since Adam's been born
And then she can be a true lover of mine;
Rosemary went on.
As you go through yandos town
Take my regards to that young man
And tell him if he wants to be a true lover of mine
That he can clear one acre of land in the deep blue sea
Where there never was land and never will be,
Rosemary went on;
Tell him that to plant it in corn and tend it with a thorn
Where there never was a thorn since Adam was born,
Rosemary went on;
Tell him to gather his corn and take it to a mill,
And sure ever' grain a bushel to fill,
Rosemary went on;
And tell then he can come and get his shirt,
Rosemary went on.