Awake, Awake- George Edwards (NY) c1940 Cazden
[My date. From: Folk Songs of the Catskills by Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht and Norman Studer. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1982. My bio follows.
R. Matteson 2016]
George Edwards, leading informant for Cazden, was born March 31, 1877 in Hasbrouck, a small place on the Neversink River. George's father, Jehila "Pat" Edwards was a scoopmaker by trade but worked as an unskilled laborer. Pat loved liquor and would sing in bars for free drinks. He died in 1927. George's mother Mary Lockwood was the stable influence in his life. She was a singer, mostly of hymns. She died in 1925. George's cousins were Charles Hinckley and "Dick" Edwards, both singers.
"Awake, Awake, Ye Drowsy Sleepers"- Sung by George Edwards of Hasbrouck, New York.
1. Awake, awake ye drowsy sleepers,
Awake awake, come listen to me."
“Who is at my bedroom window.
Weeping there most bitterly?”
2. “ 'Tis I, 'tis I, your own true lover;
Oh Mary dear, don't you know me.”
“Willie dear, go court another,
And wait no longer here for me.”
3. "Oh Mary dear go ask your mother,
If you my wedded bride could be:
If she says no, pray come and tell me,
And I'll no longer wait on thee."
4. "I dare not go and ask my mother;
You'd better go, don't tarry here,
For if I should wake my mother,
Then my father, he would hear.”
5. “Oh Mary dear, go ask your father
If you my wedded bride could be:
If he says no, pray come and tell me
And I'll no longer wait on thee."
6. "I dare not go and ask my father,
For he is on his couch of rest.
By his side a silver dagger
To pierce the heart that I love best.
7. “Willie, go and court another,
And whisper loudly in her ear
Go away, my own true lover.
Oh. go away, don't tarry here!”
8. “Oh, I can climb the tallest tree, love,
I can rob the richest nest.
I can court the fairest flower.
But not the girl that I love best!”
9. Then Willie seized the silver dagger
And pierced it through his aching heart.
Saying, "Bid farewell to your own true lover,
Farewell, farewell, we here must part!"
10. Then Mary seized that blood-stained dagger
And pierced it through her lily-white breast.
Bid farewell to father and mother,
“Farewell, farewell, we're now at rest."