272. The Fatal Wedding

 

272
The Fatal Wedding

This sentimental song of the 1890s, the work of the Negro com-
poser Gussie Davis and the song writer W. H. Windom, has estab-
lished itself as traditional song in Newfoundland, Mississippi, Mis-
souri, Illinois, and Nebraska (BSM 141), in Indiana (BSI 329-31)
and Michigan (BSSM 479), in Virginia (FSV 71, listed); the
Archive of American Folk Song lists it also for Texas; and it is
to be found in divers popular songbooks. In North Carolina it is
known from the coast to the mountains ; texts have been recorded
from Wanchese, Roanoke Island (Juanita Tillett, Jean Jones), from
Pittsboro, Chatham county (Clara Hearne), from Durham (copied
by Jesse T. Carpenter from the manuscript songbook of Mrs. C. T.
Weatherly of Greensboro), from Catawba county (Ethel Brown),
from ShuU's Mills, Watauga county (O. L. Coffey), from Ashe-
ville (Otis Kuykendall). They do not vary much from the printed
text — chiefly by lapses of memory and slight changes due to oral
transmission. It will be sufficient to give one of the better texts.

'The Fatal Wedding.' Copied by Jesse T. Carpenter for Dr. Brown,
apparently in 1923, from a manuscript songbook belonging to Mrs. C. T.
Weatherly in which her daughter Clara had written it down.

I The wedding bells are ringing
On a moonlit winter's night ;
The church was decorated.
All within was gay and bright.
A mother with her baby came

 

630 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

And saw those lights aglow.

She thought of how those same bells chimed

For her, three years ago.

Chorus:

While the wedding bells were ringing,
While the bride and groom were there,
Marching up the aisle together
As the organ pealed an air,
Telling tales of fond affection,
Vowing nevermore to part ;
Just another fatal wedding,
Just another broken heart.

2 'I'd like to be admitted, sir,'
She begged the sexton old,
'Just for the sake of baby,
To protect him from the cold.'
But he told her that the wedding
Was for the rich and grand

And with the eager, watching crowd
Outside she'd have to stand.

3 She begged the sexton once again
To let her step inside.

'For baby's sake you may come in,'
The gray-haired man replied.
'If anyone knows reasons why
This couple should not wed,
Speak now, or else forever hold
Your peace,' the preacher said.

4 T must object,' the woman cried,
Her voice so meek and mild ;

'The bridegroom is my husband, sir,

And this our little child.'

'What proof have you?' the preacher asked.

'My baby, sir,' she cried,

And knelt to pray to God in heaven —

The little one had died.

5 The parents of the bride then took
The outcast by the arm.

'We'll care for you through life,' they said ;

'You've saved our child from harm.'

The parents, bride, and outcast wife

In a carriage rolled away.

The bridegroom died by his own hand

Before the break of day.

 

NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 63I

No wedding feast was spread that night ;

Two graves were made next day.

In one the little baby and

In one the father lay.

The story has been ofttimes told

By fireside warm and bright

Of bride and groom and outcast wife

And that fatal wedding night.

-------------
 


NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 303

272

The Fatal Wedding
'The Fatal Wedding.' Sung by C. K. TiUett. Recorded at Wanchese, Roanoke
Island, 1922. The text of the chorus is practically identical with that of the
version in OFS iv 276, No. 766.

When the tune of the stanza is compared with that of the chorus, one out-
standing difference is evident. While the former is purely diatonic, the latter
shows considerable chromatic alterations. Whether these are due to some at-
tempt to 'improve' the melody or are merely the result of more recent trends, it
is certainly surprising that the tune of the stanza was not touched thereby.

 

For melodic relationship cf. ***BSM 143B, stanza only (there is no chorus) ;
**OFS IV 278, No. 766, stanza only.

Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa^ab (4,4.4.4) =
aai (8,8) ; chorus: cc^cd (4,4,4,4) = cc^ (8,8). Stanza and chorus: aa^ bbi.

 

272(1)
'The Fatal Wedding.' Sung by Otis Kuykendall. Recorded at West Asheville,
1939. The chorus uses the same tune as the stanza.

 


For melodic relationship cf. **BSM 143B, stanza; OFS iv 278, No. 766.
Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: aba^bi (4,4.4.4)
=aai (8,8).

 

272(2)
'The Fatal Wedding.' Sung by Jewell Robbins. Recorded at Pekin, Mont-
gomery county, in 1921. This tune is only a fragment as the recording is very
poor. The text is that of the chorus as given in II 630. The tune was probably
the same for the stanza.


For melodic relationship cf. ***BSM 143B, stanza; **OFS iv 278, No. 76G

Scale : Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center : e-flat. Structure : Presumably the
same as other versions: aba^c (4,4,4,4) = aa^ (8,8).