Kitty Clyde
This sprightly little song is known in Pennsylvania (NPM 1 14-15,
"Sung in Potter County. Copied from old newspaper") and Vir-
ginia (FSV 102) and is listed in Miss Pound's syllabus; further it
has not been traced. One of our texts has a chorus borrowed appar-
ently from 'Kitty Cline,' and the other ends in two stanzas remin-
iscent of that song.
A
'Kitty Clyde.' From the manuscript songbook of Miss Lura Wagoner
of Vox, Alleghany county, lent to Dr. Brown in 1936. Some of the
entries in the book are dated 191 1, others 1913, which gives an approxi-
mate date for the entry of this song.
1 Oh, who has not seen Kittie Clyde?
She lives at the foot of the hill
In a sly little nook by the bab^ little brook
That carries her father's old mill.
Chorus:
Oh, say that you love me, Kittie Clyde,
Oh, say that you love me, Kittie Clyde,
Oh, say that you love me, my sweet turtle dove,
Oh, say that you love me, Kittie Clyde.
2 Oh, who does not love Kittie Clyde?
That sunny-eyed rose glass
With a sweet little chin that looks roguish-
With always a smile as you pass.
3 With a bucket to put in her fish,
Every morning a line and a hook.
That sweet little lass through the tall heavy grass
Steals along by the clear running brook.
4 She throws her line into the stream
And tries it along the river side.
Oh, how I do wish I was a fish
To be caught by sweet Kittie Clyde !
'Kitty Clyde.' Contributed by Mrs. C. K. Tillett, Wanchese, Roanoke
Island, in March 1923.
I Who have seen Kitty Clyde?
She lives at the foot of the hill
* The Pennsylvania text shows that this should read "babbling."
* The Pennsylvania text clears up the difficulties here :
The rosy-cheekd, sunny-eyed lass,
With a sweet dimpled chin that looks roguish as sin.
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH 477
In a shy little nook by the boobling brook
She^ carries her father's old mill.
Chorus:
Kitty, sweet Kitty,
My own darling Kitty Clyde,
In a shy little nook by the boobling brook
There lives my own Kitty Clyde.
2 She has a basket to put her jfish in,
Every morning a hook and a line,^
With^ a shy little lass as she trods the heavy grass
And straightway to the running brook.
3 She throwed her line in the stream
As I was along the brook-side.
How I wish I was a fish
To be caught by sweet Kitty Clyde !
4 Oh, if I was some bee
I wouldn't gather honey from the flowers ;
I'd take one sweet sip from sweet Kitty's lips,
And build my hive in her bowers.
5 Oh, if I was some bird
I'd not build my nest in the air;
I'd keep by the side of my sweet Kitty Clyde
And build my nest in her hair.
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198
Kitty Clyde
'Kitty Clyde.' Sung by C. K. TiUett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke Island,
in IQ22. The singer changed the text slightly from that given in II 476-7-
,
Scale: Heptachordal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abcb^ (4,4,4,4).