Black Jack David- Hicks (NC) 1940 Abrams/Brown 4A
[First stanza from Brown Collection; Vol. 4 music- I assume it was recorded by Abrams but there is no recording in Abrams Collection.
The Hicks/ Harmon version was collected from Sam Harmon (Henry) and Jane Hicks Gentry (Sharp D, 1916). Harmon's version, although corrupt, is closer than the partially remembered version by Gentry. Frank Proffitt also knew a version, as did Nancy Prather, his great aunt.
R. Matteson 2015]
4A. 'Black Jack David.' Sung by Mrs. Nora Hicks. Recorded at Mast's Gap Watauga county, September 1940. Measures 1-2 and 5-6 are closely related to those in 37B, 37B(i), and 37I. These have astonishingly much in common with the melody 'Der mey hat menig Herze hoch ersteiget,' which was composed by Neithart von Reuenthal (1180-1240). Cf. DTOe, vol. 2)7, I-
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK I 144, No. 20N, measures 1-2, and 31G, 31H, measures 1-2 with our 1-2 and 5-6, melodic outline only; BMFSB 6. Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: aba1 cc1 (2,2,2,2,2) = ab (4,6). The b is related to a; the second phrase is internally incremented.