Drowsy Sleepers- Edna Fulton (IN) 1916 Pound MS; Kittredge
[From Ballads and Songs by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 30, No. 117 (Jul. - Sep., 1917), pp. 283-369. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2016]
THE DROWSY SLEEPER.
"The Drowsy Sleeper" was printed in this Journal in 1907[1] from a copy collected by Miss Pettit in Kentucky (20: 260-261), and attention was called to its connection with a Nithsdale song given in part by Allan Cunningham in his edition of Burns, 1834 (4:285), as well as with a Sussex song and a Catnach broadside. In 1908 Belden printed three versions, two from Missouri and one from Arkansas, in Herrig's "Archiv," 119: 430-431. Other copies have since come in; and these are worth publishing, not only because of the literary relations of the piece, but also because of the curious varieties in which it occurs and its mixture with other songs.
The English song published by Sharp under the title of "Arise, Arise" ("Folk-Songs from Somerset," No. 99, 4: 56-57; "One Hundred English Folksongs," No. 47, pp. 106-107), is related to "The Drowsy Sleeper." Stanza I (Sharp) corresponds to stanza I of version III (p. 341, below); stanza 2, to stanzas 3 and 4; stanza 3, to stanza 5; Sharp's stanza 5 resembles Miss Wyman's stanza 8 (p. 340, below), and his eighth stanza agrees with the last stanza of Belden's version II ("Archiv," 119: 431). Sharp's version agrees pretty closely with the Catnach broadside entitled "The Drowsy Sleeper" (Harvard College, 25242.2, fol. 172). See also "Journal of Folk-Song Society, " I: 269-270 ("O who is that that raps at my window?"). The conclusion of versions IV and V (below) shows admixture of "The Silver Dagger;" [2] and this is true also of a broadside text of "The Drowsy Sleeper," published by H. J. Wehman, New York (No. 518, "Who's at My Bedroom Window?" Harvard College Library).
III. [Drowsy Sleepers] The Drowsy Sleeper.
From Professor Louise Pound, 1916. "Brought to Nebraska in a manuscript book of ballads from Indiana, the property of Edna Fulton of Havelock, Nebraska." [Original spelling in MS kept]
I. "Arouse, arouse, ye drowsy sleepers;
Arouse, arouse, 'tis almost day:
Open your door, your dining-room window,
And hear what your true lover say."
2. "What is this that comes under my window,
A-speaking to me thus speedily?"
"It is your Jimmy, your own true Jimmy,
A-waiting to speak one word with thee."
3. "Go away from my window; you'll waken my father,
For he's taking of his rest;
Under his pillow there lies a wepon,
To pierce the man that I love best.
4. "Go away from my window; you'll waken my mother,
For tales of war she will not hear;
Go away and court some other,
Or whisper lowly in my ear."
5. "I won't go away and court any other,
For here I do no harm;
I only want you from your own dear mother,
To wrap you in your lover's arms.
6. "I wish I was down in some lonesome valey,
Where I could neather see nor hear:
My food it should be grief and sorrow,
My drink it would be the briny tear.
7. "Down in a valley there lies a sharp arrow:
I wish I had it across my breast;
It would cut off all grief and sorrow
And lay this troubled heart to rest."