Awake, O Awake- Lunsford (NC) c.1947 Jones
[My date, none given. From: Minstrel of the Appalachians: The Story of Bascom Lamar Lunsford by Loyal Jones; 1984.
R. Matteson 2016]
Awake O Awake- sung by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Taken from Lennie Green of Meat Camp Creek, Watauga County, NC.
Awake, O awake, you drowsy sleeper,
Awake, O awake, it's almost day,
How can you lie and sleep and slumber,
And see such truelove pass away?
Oh go away, you'll wake my father
He lies on yonder bed of rest,
And in his hand he carries a weapon,
To kill the boy that I love best.
Oh go away, you'll wake my mother
And that would be sad new to hear
Oh go away and court some other,
And pour your true love in her ear.
Oh I wish I were some little swallow,
Or some lonesome turtle dove.
I'd fly o'er hill and lonesome hollow,
And light on some low banks of love."
So he picked up a bloody dagger
And pierced it through his snow-white breast
Saying, "Fare you well, I'm going to leave you,
I'll die for the one that I love best."
Then she picked up the bloody dagger
She pierced it through her snow-white breast
Saying "Fare you well, father; fare you well mother,
I'll die for the one that I love best."