A Ditch of Briers- Wheeler (VA) 1918 Sharp H
[My title. Single stanza with music from Sharp and Campbell, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917 and 1932. The 1932 notes follow.
R. Matteson 2016]
No. 48. In Seaport Town.
Texts without tunes :—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xx. 259; xxix 168. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 305 (see also further references).
Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 160; ii. 42; v. 123. Miss Broadwood's Traditional Songs and Carols, p. 28. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 12 (also published in English Folk-Songs, Selected Edition, i. 4, and One Hundred
English Folk-Songs, p. 4). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxxv. 359.
H. A Ditch of Briers- Sung by Mrs. Laurel Wheeler at Buena Vista, Va., May 2, 1918.
Hexatonic (no 3rd).
She traveled over hills and mountains,
Trav'ling by herself alone.
She traveled till she came to a ditch of briers
Where his body was slain and thrown.