Awake! Awake!- Mary Sands (NC) 1916 Sharp A
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians I, 1917 and 1932. Collected by Cecil J. Sharp including tunes contributed by Olive Dame Campbell; Karpeles; ed. The 1932 notes follow.
Mary Sands was one of a group of talented singers from Madison County; see also B, C, and D.
R. Matteson 2016]
Texts without tunes:— Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North East, i, art. 54.Broadside (no imprint). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xx. 260; xxix. 200.Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 348 (see also further references).
Texts with tunes :—Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 225. Journal of the Folk-Song Society; i. 269; iii. 78. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 41. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 99 (published also in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, i. 72, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 106). Folk-Songs of England, v. 12.Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxv. 282 (tune only); xxx. 338 ; xxxv. 356. W. R. Mackenzie's Ballads and Sea Songs of Nova Scotia, No. 99. Sturgis and Hughes's Songs from the Hills of Vermont, p. 30.
AWAKE! AWAKE! - Sung by Mary Sands at Allanstand, NC Aug. 1, 1916. Sharp No. 57-A;
1. Awake! Awake! You drowsy sleeper,
Awake! Awake! It's almost day;
How can you lie and sleep and slumber,
And your true love going far away.
2. Say, my love, go ask your mother,
If you my bride, my bride shall be;
And if she says, "No" love come and tell me,
It will be the last time I'll bother thee.
3. I'll not go ask my mother,
For she lies on her bed at rest;
And in her hands she holds a paper
That speaks the most of my distress.
4. Say, my love, go ask your father,
If you my bride, my bride shall be;
And if she says, "No" love come and tell me,
It will be the last time I'll bother thee.
5. I will not go ask my father,
For he lies on his bed at rest;
And in his hands he holds a weapon,
To kill the man that I love best.
6. I'll go down in some lone valley,
And spend my weeks, my months, my many years,
And I'll eat nothing but green willow,
And I'll drink nothing but my tears.
7. Then come back, come back, my own true lover,
Come back, come back in grief cried she,
And I'll forsake both father and mother,
And I'll cry, love, and pity thee.