Bluegrass Messengers

Brown Collection VOLUMES TWO &  FOUR: FOLK BALLADS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

[I've combined the text from Volume II with the music and addtional texts from Volume IV. This is under contruction and may not be complete soon. My footnotes and addtions will appears as [bracketed] blue text. The purpose of this site and much of my life is to preserve and promote our musical heritage. R. Matteson 2011]

[The Brown Collection of NC Folk-lore is one of the premiere folk-song collections of the early 1900s. The songs are well documented and in many cases recorded. The song notes by Henry M. Belden and Arthur Palmer Hudson, two of the top collectors and researchers, are very good-- considering when they were prepared. The music arrangements are exact and carefully done.

Despite my awe at the magnitude of this collection, there are some things that could have been done better. Although Belden and Hudson were aware of the vast number of early country recordings, there is little discussion in the song notes about the existing recordings of the songs. Only rarely (Wreck of the old 97) do they discuss this in detail. Some of the songs in this collection are versions based on these recordings. The editors don't seem to recognize this.

Certainly today we have research tools at our disposal that they didn't. Guthrie Meade's County Music Sources is one book that clears up some of the difficult song origin questions. There are also many online repositories like the Library of Congress and the Lester Levy Collection. We've come a long way but we still have a long way to go. There are thousands and thousands of recordings and collected materials that are not available to the public. For example, Robert Gordon's massive collection has only a scant dozen recordings on-line. There needs to be something done to make this accessible to the average citizen. Let's do something about it!]

TITLE PAGE

The Frank C. Brown Collection of

NORTH CAROLINA

FOLKLORE

ALL DAY SINGING

The FRANK C. BROWN COLLECTION of

NORTH CAROLINA
FOLKLORE

The Folklore of North Carolina collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown

DURING THE YEARS 1912 TO 1943 IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NORTH CAROLINA Folklore Society of which he was Secretary-Treasurer 1913-1943

IN FIVE VOLUMES

General Editor
NEWMAN IVEY WHITE

Associate Editors

HENRY M. BELDEN PAUL G. BREWSTER

WAYLAND D. HAND ARTHUR PALMER HUDSON

JAN P. SCHINHAN ARCHER TAYLOR

STITH THOMPSON BARTLETT JERE WHITING

GEORGE P. WILSON

PAUL F. BAUM
Wood Engravings by

CLARE LEIGHTON

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
 

*           *               *

Volume I

GAMES AND RHYMES • BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS • RIDDLES
PROVERBS • SPEECH • TALES AND LEGENDS

Edited by

Paul G. Brewster, Archer Taylor, Bartlett Jere Whiting,

George P. Wilson, Stith Thompson

Volume II
FOLK BALLADS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

Edited by
Henry M. Belden and Arthur Palmer Hudson

Volume III
FOLK SONGS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

Edited by
Henry M. Belden and Arthur Palmer Hudson

Volume IV
THE MUSIC OF THE BALLADS

Edited by
Jan Philip Schinhan

Volume V
THE MUSIC OF THE FOLK SONGS

Edited by
Jan Philip Schinhan

Volumes VI and VII
SUPERSTITIONS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

Edited by
Wayland D. Hand

-------------------------------------------------

The FRANK C. BROWN COLLECTION of

NORTH CAROLINA
FOLKLORE

VOLUME TWO

FOLK BALLADS

FROM
NORTH CAROLINA

Edited by

HENRY M. BELDEN

and

ARTHUR PALMER HUDSON

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

1952

COPYRIGHT, 1952, BY THE DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge University Press, London, N. W. 1, England

Second Printing, 1959

The Library of Congress has cataloged this publication as follows:

Duke University, Durham, N. C. Library. Frank O. Brown
Collection of North Carolina Folklore.

The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folk-lorelore; the folklore of North Carolina, collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown during the years 1912 to 1943, in collaboration with the North Carolina Folklore Society ... General editor: Newman Ivey White; associate editors: Henry M. Belden (and others, Wood engravings by Clare Leighton. Durham, N. C, Duke University Press ,1952-

V. lllus., port., music. 24 cm. (Duke University publicatlons)

Each vol. has also special t. p.

Includes bibliographies.

Duke University, Durham, N. C. Library. Frank C. Broton
Collection of North Carolina Folklore. The Frank C. Brown Collection... ,1952- (Card 2)

Contents. — v. 1. Games and rhymes. BelleCs and customs. Riddles. Proverbs. Speech. Tales and legends. — v. 2. Folk ballads from  North Carolina. — T. 3. Folk songs from North Carolina. — v. 4. The music of the ballads.

1. Folk-lore — North Carolina. 2. Folk-songs, American — North Carolina. 1. White, Newman Ivey, 1892-1948, ed. n. Brown, Frank ayde. in. North Carolina Folklore Society, rv. TlUe. v. TlUe: North Carolina folklore.

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CONTENTS

Foreword xv

Abbreviations Used in the Headnotes xviii

Introduction 3

I. THE OLDER BALLADS— MOSTLY BRITISH

1. The Elfin Knight I2

2. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 15

3. Earl Brand 27

4. The Two Sisters 32

5. The Cruel Brother 35

6. Lord Randal 39

7. Edward 41

8. Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks Fordie 44

9. The Three Ravens 46

10. Thomas Rymer 46

11. The Wee, Wee Man 47

12. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship 48

13. The Two Brothers 49

14. Young Beichan 50

15. The Cherry Tree Carol 61

16. Sir Patrick Spens 63

17. Child Waters 65

18. Young Hunting 67

19. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 69

20. Fair Margaret and Sweet William 79

21. Lord Lovel 84

22. The Lass of Rock Royal 88

23. Sweet William's Ghost 92

24. The Unquiet Grave 94

25. The Wife of Usher's Well 95

26. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard ioi

27. Bonny Barbara Allan hi

28. Lady Alice 131

29. Lamkin 140

30. The Maid Freed from the Gallows 143

31. The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter 149

32. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 151

33. Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires 152

34. Sir Hugh; or, The Jew's Daughter 155

35. Queen Eleanor's Confession 160

36. The Bonny Earl of Murray 160

37. The Gypsy Laddie 161

38. Geordie 168

39. Katharine Jaffray 169

40. James Harris (The Daemon Lover) 171

41. The Suffolk Miracle 180

42. Our Goodman 181

43. Get up and Bar the Door 183

44. The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin 185

45. The Farmer's Curst Wife 188

46. The Crafty Farmer 188

47. The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity) 191

48. The Mermaid 195

49. Trooper and Maid 198

50. The Dilly Song 199

51. The Twelve Blessings of Mary 206

52. The Twelve Days of Christmas 208

53. I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In 210

54. Dives and Lazarus I 210

55. Dives and Lazarus II 211

56. The Romish Lady 212

57. 'Let's Go A-Hunting,' Says Richard to Robert 215

58. The Ghost's Bride 216

59. The Dark Knight 218

60. The Turkish Factor 220

61. Nancy of Yarmouth 223

62. The Bramble Brier 229

63. The Prince of Morocco; or, Johnnie 232

64. The Gosport Tragedy 234

65. The Lexington Murder 240

66. On the Banks of the Ohio 247

67. Rose Conn ally 248

68. Handsome Harry 250

69. Beautiful Susan 251

70. The Lancaster Maid 253

71. The Drowsy Sleeper 255

72. The Silver Dagger 258

73. Come All Young People 259

74. Chowan River 261

75. Pretty Betsey 262

76. Molly Bawn 263

77. Fair Fannie Moore 264

78. Mary of the Wild Moor 265

79. Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low 266

80. The Three Butchers 269

81. The Butcher Boy 271

82. The Lover's Lament 279

83. As I Stepped Out Last Sunday Morning 283

84. Locks and Bolts 284

85. New River Shore 286

86. The Soldier's Wooing 287

87. Early, Early in the Spring 290

88. Charming Beauty Bright 293

89. The Glove 296

90. A Brave Irish Lady 299

91. Servant Man 302

92. A Pretty Fair Maid down in the Garden 304

93. John Reilley 305

94. Johnny German 306

95. The Dark-Eyed Sailor 310

96. Lovely Susan 311

97. Polly Oliver 312

98. Mollie and Willie 313

99. Jack Munro 314

100. The Girl Volunteer 317

101. Charming Nancy 319

102. A Rich Nobleman's Daughter 320

103. Little Plowing Boy 322

104. The Sailor Boy 323

105. Scarboro Sand (Robin Hood Side) 329

106. William Taylor 330

107. The Silk-Merchant's Daughter 331

108. Green Beds 334

109. Poor Jack 339

110. Little Mohea 340

111. The Faithful Sailor Boy 342

112. The Sailor's Bride 344

113. Barney McCoy 346

114. In a Cottage by the Sea 347

115. A Song About a Man-of-War 348

116. Captain Kidd 350

117. Poor Parker 351

118. High Barbary 352

119. The Lorena Bold Crew 353

120. The Sheffield Apprentice 353

121. The Rambling Boy 355

122. My Bonnie Black Bess 356

123. The Drummer Boy of Waterloo 357

124. Caroline of Edinburgh Town 358

125. Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch 360

126. I Wish My Love Was in a Ditch 361

127. Shule Aroon 362

128. William Riley 363

129. Johnny Doyle 365

130. Sweet William and Nancy 366

131. The Irish Girl 367

132. Pretty Susie, the Pride of Kildare 368

133. I Was Sitting on a Stile 369

134. I Left Ireland and Mother because We Were Poor 369

135. Three Leaves of Shamrock 370

136. Skew Ball 371

137. When You and I Were Young, Maggie 371

138. The Happy Stranger 372

139. Sweet Lily 373

140. Once I Had a Sweetheart 374

141. A False-Hearted Lover 375

142. Mama Sent Me to the Spring 375

143. Annie Lee 376

144. Hateful Mary Ann 377

145. The Girl I Left behind Me 378

146. The Isle of St. Helena 385

147. The Babes in the Wood 388

148. The Orphan Girl 388

149. The Blind Girl 392

150. Two Little Children 394

151. The Soldier's Poor Little Boy 396

152. The Orphan 397

153. Fond Affection 399

154. You Are False, but I'll Forgive You 408

155. We Have Met and We Have Parted 410

156. Broken Ties 415

157. They Were Standing ry the Window 417

158. The Broken Heart 421

159. This Night We Part Forever 422

160. Parting Words 423

161. Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me 424

162. The One Forsaken 425

163. Don't Forget Me, Little Darling 426

164. She Was Happy till She Met You 427

165. The Ripest Apple 428

166. Sweetheart, Farewell 428

167. My Little Dear, So Fare You Well 429

168. Dreary Weather 430

169. My Sweetheart's Dying Words 432

170. The Homesick Boy 433

171. Over the Hills to the Poor-House 434

172. You're the Man That Stole My Wife 436

173. I'm Going to Get Married Next Sunday 436

174. Katie's Secret 437

175. The Farmer's Daughter 438

176. The Derby Ram 439

177. The Miller and His Three Sons 440

178. I Tuck Me Some Corn to the County Seat 444

179. The Old Dyer 444

180. Father Grumble 445

181. Johnny Sands 448

182. The Old Woman's Blind Husband 450

183. The Dumb Wife 452

184. The Holly Twig 454

185. Nobody Coming to Marry Me 456

186. Whistle, Daughter, Whistle 457

187. Hard of Hearing 458

188. The Three Rogues 458

189. Bryan O'Lynn 459

190. Three Jolly Welshmen 460

191. The Good Old Man 463

192. The Burglar Man 465

193. Billy Grimes the Drover 466

194. Grandma's Advice 467

195. Common Bill 469

196. Swapping Songs 472

197. Dog and Gun 474

198. Kitty Clyde 476

199. Father, Father, I Am Married 477

200. If I Had a Scolding Wife 478

201. The Scolding Wife 478

202. The Little Black Mustache 479

203. No Sign of a Marriage 481

204. Wilkins and His Dinah 482

205. Thimble Buried His Wife at Night 484

206. Boys. Keep Away from the Girls 485

207. The Boys Won't Do to Trust 486

II. NATIVE AMERICAN BALLADS 487

208. Springfield Mountain 489

209. Young Charlotte 492

210. The Three Drowned Sisters 495

211. The Ore Knob 496

212. Floyd Collins 498

213. The Jam at Gerry's Rock 501

214. Lost on the Lady Elgin 506

215. The Ship That Never Returned 507

216. Casey Jones 510

217. The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven 512

218. Wreck of the Royal Palm 521

219. Wreck of the Shenandoah 522

220. Paul Jones 523

221. James Bird 525

222. In Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One 528

223. On the Plains of Manassas 529

224. Old Johnston Thought It Rather Hard 530

225. The Cumberland 530

226. The Merrimac 533

227. The Dying Fifer 533

228. The Dying Soldier to His Mother 534

229. The Battle of Shiloh Hill 535

230. The Drummer Boy of Shiloh 536

231. The Last Fierce Charge 539

232. Kingdom Coming 541

233. Ol' Gen'ral Bragg's a-Mowin' Down de Yankees 543

234. The Texas Ranger 544

235. The Battleship Maine (I) 546

236. The Battleship Maine (II) 547

237. Marching to Cuba 548

238. Manila Bay 549

239. That Bloody War 550

240. Strange Things Wuz Happening 553

241. Just Remember Pearl Harbor 553

242. The Boston Burglar 554

243. Jesse James 557

244. John Hardy 563

245. Kenny Wagner's Surrender 566

246. Claud Allen 567

247. Frank Dupree 570

248. Brady 571

249. Charles Guiteau 572

250. Florella (The Jealous Lover) 578

251. Frankie and Albert 589

252. Sadie 597

253. Little Mary Phagan 598

254. Marian Parker 603

255. The Murder of Marian Parker 604

256. Little Marion Parker 604

257. Edward Hickman 606

258. Joe Bowers 607

259. Sweet Jane 608

260. Jack Haggerty 610

261. The Ocean Burial 611

262. The Lone Prairie 613

263. The Unfortunate Rake 614

264. When the Work Is Done This Fall 618

265. A Jolly Group of Cowboys 619

266. Great Granddad 621

267. The Lily ok the West 622

268. Bill Miller's Trip to the West 622

269. Cheyenne 622

270. John Henry 623

271. Aunt Jemima's Plaster 628

272. The Fatal Wedding 629

273. Little Rosewood Casket 631

274. Jack and Joe 635

275. They Say It is Sinful to Flirt 638

276. The Little White Rose 640

in. NORTH CAROLINA BALLADS 641

277-280. Regulator Songs 645

277. When Fanning First to Orange Came 648

278. From Hillsborough Town the First of May 649

279. Says Frohock to Fanning 652

280. Who Would Have Tho't Harmon 653

281. The Rebel Acts of Hyde 655

282. As I Went Down to Newbern 658

283. Old Billy Dugger 658

284. The Brushy Mountains Freshet 658

285. Man Killed by Falling from a Horse 659

286. The Florence C. McGee 660

287. The Titanic 662

288. The Wreck of the Huron 668

289. The Song of Dailey's Life-Boat 671

290. The Hamlet Wreck 674

291. Edward Lewis 676

292. Manley Pan key 677

293, 294. William S. Shackleford (alias J. P. Davis) 677

293. Last Words of William Shackleford, Executed in Pittsboro, Chatham Co., March 28, 1890. 680

294. William Shackleford's Farewell Song As Sung by Shackleford 682

295. Death of Birchie Potter 683

296. Emma Hartsell 684

297. Gladys Kincaid 687

298. The Lawson Murder 688

299. Lillian Brown 689

300. Poor Naomi (Omie Wise) 690

301. Frankie Silver 699

302-304. Tom Dula and Laura Foster 703

302. The Murder of Laura Foster 707

303. Tom Dula 709

304. Tom Dula's Lament 713

305, 306, Ellen Smith and Peter De Graff 714

305. Ellen Smith 714

306. Poor Little Ellen; or, Ellen Smith 716

307. Nellie Cropsey 717

308. Lillie Shaw 721

309. The Prohibition Boys 722

310. Prohibition Whiskey 724

311. Shu Lady 725

312. 'Tis Now, Young Man, Give Me Attention 728

313. Blockader's Trail 729

314. Blockader Mamma 735

Additional Ballads from Volume IV
 
315. Cock Robin

316. Child Riddles

317. The Dying Nun

318. The Dying Girl's Message

319. Ella's Grave

320. Dear Nell

321. Dear Annie; I Left My Love in England

322. The Bold Privateer

323. The Banks of Sweet Dundee

324. Dublin Bay

325. The Origin of Ireland

326. Devilish Mary

345. He Courted Her in the Month of June

328. The Skeptic's Daughter

329. Lord Ullin's Daughter

330. William Hall

331. Jimmy Caldwell

332. Michael Roy

333. Jack O' Hazeldean

334. The Pennsylvania Boy

335. The Range of the Buffalo

336. When I Was a Little Boy

337. Zolgotz

338. Story of Mine Cave-In; Shirley and Smith

339 The F.F.V. The Wreck of No. 4

340. The Wreck of Old Number Nine

Index of Titles and Variant Titles 737

ILLUSTRATIONS

All Day Singing frontispiece

Centenarian facing page 142

Spring House 310

Wind and Pine " " 432

Hatteras Wreck " " 660

----------------------------------------------------

FOREWORD

IT WAS at first supposed that the contents of the present volumes II and III — the ballads and songs collected in North Carolina — would occupy only one volume. Professor Belden and Professor Hudson, who were to edit the materials together, then agreed on a division of labor whereby the former was to be responsible for the ballads which were 'British,' i.e., not clearly American (now Nos. 1-207 of volume II) and a considerable group of songs (now Nos. 1-327 of volume III); and the latter. Professor Hudson, was to be responsible for the  American ballads, including those particularly concerning North Carolina (now Nos. 208-314 of volume II) and the remaining songs (now Nos. 328-658 of volume III). This division was followed consistently, but there has been constant co-operation during their work of editing. The general introduction was written by Professor Hudson; the special introductions were written each by the editor of the pieces that accompany them.

These volumes contain probably the most important part of Dr. Brown's Collection and certainly the part which he most
highly cherished. There would be two reasons for this : one, the excitement of lengthening the local list of popular ballads,
as the arch-priest of the discipline. Professor Child, thought of them, the 'traditional' ballads brought to this country by early
settlers — in a word, the pleasure of the chase. The other would be the interesting possibilities of directly observing a process
of generation and growth here and now, which for the famous traditional ballads is known largely by inference. It might be
possible to observe some of the phenomena of ballad history, owing to a survival or recurrence of many of the circumstances
in which the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century ballads came into existence. It would be interesting to see what the ballad
makers of North Carolina have done with that form which they received, or brought, from the English and Scottish archetypes.

What characteristics of the older ballad technique they preserved (incremental repetition, refrain, leap-and-linger narration, etc.),  what new combinations of local tradition and native folklore they have developed.

'Folk' ballads and 'folk' songs are of course not important because they come nearer than any other division of the subject to primary or essential folklore, or because they reveal more intimately the ways of the folk mind, but because they exhibit an unlikely combination, a combination known elsewhere less abundantly, of the elementary or primitive processes of creation
and that mysterious thing called art. Thus in these ballads and  these songs, as we have them here, extremes meet, sometimes  to the disadvantage of the 'popular' form, as its crudity becomes all too apparent, sometimes however to its advantage,  as the artificiality of sophistication may become all too apparent.

But the real point of this is that the folk ballad and the folk  song differ from other kinds of folklore in sharing to a greater
degree, if not exclusively, the character of artistic creation.  Something of the same is true of certain forms of music, draw-
ing, and sculpture, but in these the evidence is more limited  and less easy to study.

The paradox has still another side. 'Popular' means both  originating with the unlettered folk and also acquired or adopted
by them. It means both what belongs to them and what is  suited to their taste and finds favor with them. Since, therefore, the folk, both in their creative and their adoptive spirit,  form a continuum, and today's novelty and a centuries-old mem-
ory may so blend that it is difficult to distinguish them, it comes  about that the folk ballad and folk song are at the same time
both 'old' and 'modern.' It is chiefly when a professional entertainer or deliberate fabricator of popular song — popular now as
we speak of popular novelists — produces something which obtains wide currency among those who in less than a generation's
time become 'old people' and continues to flourish apart from  printed texts, that the line is blurred and one hardly knows
which sense of the word popular is dominant. Some of the  genuine 'old' ballads must have been produced in a then traditionary style by then popular entertainers. When the same goes  on today, is the product less 'popular,' farther from the 'folk'?  How the terms slip under one's own eyes is well illustrated by  the remark made a short while ago by the vice-president of a  radio station : "The fact is that and are writing modern folk music." (Those who care to pursue this question
further mav well read the first and last chapters of Ballad Books  and Ballad Men by Sigurd B. Hustvedt [Cambridge. 1930 ,
where the definitions and distinctions are learnedly but clearly  set forth, with something also of the history of collecting in America.)

This continuity will strike every reader and perhaps raise a  critical question as to the editorial principles of inclusion in
the present volumes. One answer has just been suggested. The  other is more practical. Dr. Brown and his collaborators were
still in the earlv stages of collecting; sifting was to follow.  The General Editor, no doubt out of deference to Dr. Brown s
methods, passed all the material on. as he has explained, to the  Associate Editors, with responsibility to treat it as their judg-
ment should dictate; and the Associate Editors, probably also  out of deference to their predecessors, have sometimes applied
the principle of exclusion with reluctance. And the present  writer, last in succession, has in turn deferred to precedent as
having neither authority nor competence to decide against his  betters. The reader may therefore be grateful with the Psalmist
and also remember the words of another Teacher: 'Give, and  it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over."

The table of contents lists the ballads (and for volume III  the songs) under the titles assigned them by the editors. A  full index, including the variant titles given them by the contributors, will be found at the end of each volume. At the end
of volume III will be found also a list of the contributors represented in both II and III. together with those whose contribu-
tions have not been used by the editors.

On some counts the tunes which Dr. Brown gathered with  many of these ballads and songs might well have been included
at once with the texts; but considerations of time and difficulties  of printing led to the General Editor's decision to publish them
separately in our forthcoming volume lY. with an Introduction  by Professor Schinhan. Meanwhile, those ballads and songs or
which tunes have been collected and transcribed are indicated  by an asterisk in the indexes to volumes II and 111.  For Additions and Corrections, see p. xxiv.

P. F. B.

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ABBREVIATIONS

USED IN THE HEADNOTES

ABFS American Ballads and Folk Songs. By John Avery  Lomax and Alan Lomax. New York, 1934.

ABS American Ballads and Songs. By Louise Pound.  New York, [1922].

AMS American Mountain Songs. By Ethel Park Richardson and Sigmund Spaeth. New York, [1927].

ANFS American Negro Folk-Songs. By Newman I. White. Cambridge [Mass.], 1928.

APPS The American Play-Party Song. By Benjamin A.  Botkin. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1937.

AS American Speech. Baltimore, 1926 — .

ASb The American Songbag. By Carl Sandburg. New  York, [1927].

Barry Folk Songs of the North Atlantic States. By Phillips Barry. Boston, 1908. Mimeographed.

BBM British Ballads from Maine. By Phillips Barry,  Fannie H. Eckstorm, and Mary W. Smyth. New  Haven, 1929.

BFSSNE Bulletin of the Folk-Song Society of the Northeast.  Cambridge [Mass.], 1930-37.

BKH Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands. By Henry Harvey Fuson. London, 1931.

BMFSB Twenty-Nine Beech Mountain Folk Songs and Ballads. By Mellinger Henry and Maurice Matteson.  New York, 1936.

Botkin See APPS.

BSI Ballads and Songs of Indiana. By Paul G. Brewster.  Bloomington, Indiana, 1940.

BSM Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri FolkLore Society. By H. M. Belden. Columbia, Missouri, 1940.

BSO Ballads and Songs from Ohio. By Mary O. Eddy.  New York, [1939].

BSSB Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy. By Franz  Rickaby. Cambridge [Mass.], 1926.

BSSM Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan. By Emelyn E. Gardner and Geraldine J. Chickering. Ann  Arbor, 1939.

BSSN Ballads and Sea Songs from Newfoundland. By Elizabeth Greenleaf [and] Grace Y. Mansfield.  Cambridge [Mass.], 1933.

BSSNS Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia. By W. Roy MacKenzie. Cambridge [Mass.], 1928.

BTFLS Bulletin of the Tennessee Folklore Society. Maryville, Tenn., 1935 — .

CFLQ California Folklore Quarterly. 1942 — .

Christie Traditional Ballad Airs. By W. Christie. Edinburgh, 1876- 1881. 2 vols.

CS Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. By J. A. Lomax and Alan Lomax. New York, 1938. (In  a few cases the earlier edition, 1910, is cited.)

CSV Country Songs of Vermont. By Helen H. Flanders [and] Helen Norfleet. New York, [1937].

DD Devil's Ditties. By Jean Thomas. Chicago, 1931.

Dean Flying Cloud and One Hundred and Fifty Other Old Time Songs and Ballads. By M. C. Dean. Vir-ginia, Minn., n.d.

DESO Down-East Spirituals, and Others. By George Pullen Jackson. New York, [1943].

ECS English County Songs. By Lucy Broadwood and J. A. F. Maitland. London, 1893.

ETSC English Traditional Songs and Carols. By Lucy Broadwood. London, 1908.

ETWVMB East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain  Ballads. By Celeste P. Cambiaire. London, 1935.

FB Frontier Ballads. By Charles J. Finger. New York, 1927.

Ford Traditioyial Music of America. By Ira W. Ford. New York, 1940.

FSA Folk-songs of America. By Robert W. Gordon. National Service Bureau, 1938.

FSE Folk-Songs of England. Ed. Cecil J. Sharp. Books I, II, III, IV, V, various editors. London, 1908-12.

FSF Folksongs of Florida. By Alton C. Morris. Gainesville, 1950.

FSKH Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Highlands. By Josiah H. Combs. New York, 1939.

FSKM Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains. By Josephine McGill. New York, [1917].

FSM Folksongs of Mississippi and Their Background. By Arthur Palmer Hudson. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1936.

FSMEU Folk-Songs du Midi des £tats-Unis. By Josiah H. Combs. Paris, 1925.

FSniWV Folk-Songs Mainly from West Virginia. By John H. Cox. National Service Bureau of the Federal
Theatre Project. W.P.A. New York. 1939.

FSN Folk Songs from Newfoundland. By Maud Karpeles. [London], 1934.

FSONE Folk Songs of Old New England. By Eloise Hubbard Linscott. New York, 1939.

FSRA Folk-Songs of Roanoke and the Albemarle. By Louis W. Chappell. Morgantown, W. Va.. 1939.

FSS Folk-Songs of the South. By John Harrington Cox. Cambridge [Mass.], 1925.

FSSC Franklin Square Song Collection. Selected by J. P. McCaskey. New York, 1881-1891. 8 vols.

FSSH Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands. By Mellinger E. Henry. New York, [1938].

FSSom Folk-Songs from Somerset. By Cecil J. Sharp and C. L. Marson. London, 1904-1909.

FSUT Folk Songs of the Upper Thames. By Alfred Williams. London, [1923].

FSV Folk-Songs of Virginia. A Descriptive Index. . . . By Arthur Kyle Davis, Jr. Durham, N. C, 1949.

FTM Folk Tunes from Mississippi. By Arthur Palmer Hudson and George Herzog. National Play Bureau  Publication No. 25. July 1937.

GGMS A Garland of Green Mountain Song. By Helen Hartness Flanders. Boston, 1934.

Gomme The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By Alice Bertha Gomme. London, 1894-  1898.

GSAC Games and Songs of American Children. By William Wells Newell. New York, 1883 ; new and
enlarged ed., 1903, 191 1.

Halliwell The Nursey Rhymes of England. By James Orchard Halliwell. London, 1842.

HFLB Hoosier Folklore Bulletin. Bloomington, Ind., 1942- 45. Thereafter: Hoosier Folklore. — HFL.

JAFL Journal of American Folklore. 1888 — .

JEFDSS The Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song

Society. London, 1931 — . Successor to JFSS.

JFSS The Journal of the Folk-Song Society. London, 1899-1931.

JISHS Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. Springfield, 1908 — .

LL Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs. By Gavin Greig and Alexander Keith. [Aberdeen], 1925.

LT Lonesome Tunes. Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains. By Loraine Wyman and Howard  Brockway. New York, [1916].

MAFLS Memoirs of the American Folklore Society. No. xxix is 'Folk-Lore from Iowa,' by Earl J. Stout,  1936.

Mason Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs. By M. H. Mason. London, 1877.

McLendon A Finding List of Play-Party Games. By Altha  Lea McLendon, SFLQ viii (1944), 201-34.

MLN Modern Language Notes. Baltimore, 1886 — .

MM Minstrelsy of Maine. By Fannie H. Eckstorm and Mary W. Smyth. Boston, 1937.

MMP Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania. By Henry W. Shoemaker. Philadelphia, 193 1. A revision of  NPM.

MSHF More Songs of the Hill Folk. By John J. Niles. New York, [1936].

MSNC Mountain Songs of North Carolina. By Marshall Bartholomew and Susannah Wetmore. New York,  1926.

MWS Maine Woods Songster. By Phillips Barry. Cambridge [Mass.], 1939.

Newell See GSAC.

NGMS The Neiv Green Mountain Songster. By Helen Hartness Flanders, Elizabeth Flanders Ballard,  George Brown, and Phillips Barry. New Haven,  1939-

Northall English Folk-Rhymes. By G. E. Northall. London, 1892.

NPM North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy. By Henry W. Shoemaker. 2nd ed., Altoona, Pa., 1923.

NS The Negro and His Songs. By Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1925.

NWS Negro Workaday Songs. By Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1926.

NYFLQ New York Folklore Quarterly. 1945 — .

OASPS The Ozarks: An American Survival of Primitive Society. By Vance Randolph. New York, 1931.

OFS Ozark Folksongs. Collected and edited by Vance Randolph. Columbia, Mo., 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950. 4 vols.

OIFMS Old Irish Folk Music and Songs. By Patrick W. Joyce. London, 1909. 3 parts.

OMF Ozark Mountain Folk. By Vance Randolph. New York, 1932.

OHEFS One Hundred English Folk Songs. By Cecil J. Sharp. New York and Boston, [1916].

Ord The Bothy Songs and Ballads of Aberdeen, Banff and Moray, Angus and the Mcarns. By John  Ord. Paisley, [1930].

OSC Our Singing Country. By John A. Lomax, Alan Loniax, and Ruth Crawford Seeger. New York,  1941.

OSSG Old Songs and Singing Games. By Richard Chase. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1938.

Owens Szving and Turn : Texas Play-Party Songs. By William A. Owens. Dallas, 1936.

Ozark Life Ozark Life (Outdoors). Kingston, Ark., 1925-31.

PTFLS Publications of the Texas Folk-Lore Society. Austin, 1916 — .

PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association. 1884—.

Pound Folk-Song of Nebraska and the Central West. A Syllabus. By Louise Pound. University of Nebraska, 1915. Nebraska Academy of Sciences Publications, vol. IX, no. 3.

Rimbault Nursery Rhymes, with Tunes. ... By Edward F, Rimbault. London, n.d.

SBML Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks. By Roland Palmer Gray. Cambridge [Mass.], 1924.

SBNS Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia. By Helen Creighton. Toronto, [1932].

SCB South Carolina Ballads. By Reed Smith. Cambridge [Mass.], 1928.

SCSM A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains. By Dorothy Scarborough. New York, 1937.

SFLQ Southern Folklore Quarterly. Gainesville, Fla., 1937—-

SFSEA Spiritual Folk-Songs of Early America. By George Pullen Jackson. New York, [1937].

SharpK English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. By Cecil J. Sharp and Maud Karpeles. London, 1932. 2 vols.

Shearin A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs. By Herbert G. Shearin and Josiah Combs. Lexington, Ky., 1911. Transylvania Studies in English IL

SHE Songs of the Hill-Folk. By John J. Niles. New York, [1934].

SMLJ Songs of the Michigan Lumberjacks. By Earl C. Beck. Ann Arbor, 1941.

SS Slave Songs of the United States. By William F. Allen. New York, 1867 (reprinted 1929).

SSSA Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians. By Mellinger E. Henry. London, [1934].

Steely "The Folk-Songs of the Ebenezer Community." By Mercedes S. Steely. Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of North Carolina, 1936.

Talley Negro Folk Rhymes. By Thomas W. Talley. New York, 1922.

TBmWV Traditional Ballads mainly from West Virginia. By John Harrington Cox. National Service Bureau, 1939-

TBV Traditional Ballads of Virginia. By Arthur Kyle Davis. Cambridge [Mass.], 1929.

TKMS Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs. By Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway. Boston, [1920]. 

TNFS On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs. By Dorothy Scarborough. Cambridge [Mass.], 1925.

TSSI Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois. By Charles Neely. Menasha, Wis., 1938.

VFSB Vermont Folk-Songs and Ballads. By Helen H. Flanders and George Brown. Brattleboro, Vt., 1932. 2nd ed.

WNS White and Negro Spirituah. By George Pullen Jackson. New York, [1944].

Wolford The Play-Party in Indiana. By Leah J. Wolford. Indianapolis, 1916.

WSSU White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands. By George Pullen Jackson. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1933.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

Folksongs of Alabama, collected by Byron Arnold, University, Ala-bama, 1950, contains texts and music of our Nos. 2, 3, 18, 19, 21,  22, 25, 27, 30, 34, 44.

The British Traditional Ballad in America, by Tristram P. Coffin,  Philadelphia (American Folklore Society), 1950, also contains
discussions of our Nos. i fif.

p. 300, 1.7 : add Arkansas before Georgia.

p. 212, 1. 10 from bottom: add Missouri (OFS iv 32-4) before Ohio.

p. 426, 1.16: add Randolph reports four texts from the Ozarks (OFS IV 207-9).  p. 4JI, 1.5 from bottom: read Randolph, who reports four texts from Missouri (OFS iv 234-6), points out the resemblance of various phrases in it to parts of other songs. Elsew^here I have not found  it. The last. . . .

p. 476, 1.5: for further . . . traced read Randolph found traces of it in the Ozarks (OFS iv 157-8).


-------------------------------

Versions of the following titles are published herein by special arrangement with the copyright owners:

'Casey Jones' (Newton-Seibert) (Vol. II. pp. 510-512)

Copyriglit 1909 by Newton & Seibert. Copyriglit renewed. Shapiro,  Bernstein & Co.. Inc. copyright owners.

'The Death of Floyd Collins' (Jenkins-Spain) (Vol. II, pp. 498-501)

Copyright 1925 by P. C. Brockman. Copyright renewed. Shapiro,  Bernstein & Co., Inc. copyright owners.

'The Prisoner's Song' (Guy Massey) (Vol. Ill, pp. 411-416)

Copyright 1924 by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. Copyright renewed.

'The Wreck of the Old 97' ( Whittier-Noell-Lewey) (Vol. II, pp. 512-521)

Copyright 1924 by F. Wallace Rega. Copyright renewed. Copyright  1939 by R. C. A. Manufacturing Co. Copyright assigned to Shapiro.  Bernstein & Co., Inc. copyright owners.

'The Wreck of the Old Shenandoah' (Maggie Andrews) (Vol. II,  pp. 522-52.3)

Copyright 1925 by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc. Copyright renewed.

----------------------------------------------------

FOLK BALLADS FROM NORTH CAROLINA

INTRODUCTION

A READER of popular ballads and folk songs is hopefully invited to make a difficult imaginative adjustment — a more diffi-
cult one than the reading of an acting drama requires. From the  immediate emotional impact of the actual singing of the song to  the impression obtained from reading the text of it on a printed  page is a transition as sharp as that of passing from the splendid  motion-picture production of Henry V, say, with Laurence Olivier  in the title role, a massive and brilliant supporting cast, and all  the illusion of staging, costume, lighting, and music, to that of  reading an edition of the text by even a J. Q. Adams or a G. L.  Kittredge. Or, to summon another comparison, the act of imagination invoked is like that of looking at butterflies impaled in ordered  rows in the showcases of a museum and trying to see them as they  flutter in the breeze and sunlight over flowered fields, flit from  bloom to bloom, hedge-hop in jocund companies, or perform their  aerial evolutions against a blue sky. Surely, facing their possible  readers, all editors of ballads and folk songs feel the sharp threat
of the implied curse pronounced upon their race by Sir Walter's  auld ballad wife — not merely that "they'll ne'er be sung mair," but  that they may never be read.

Yet, like the book of the play, in their humble way these songs  have a life of their own, and they continue to ofTer suggestions of a  larger human life which fancy can re-create. And, unlike the lepidoptera exhibit in the museum, they are not actually dead things.  Many are still sung, outside the dry white pages that seem to imprison copies of them, on the live breath of a singer, in the lamplight or sunlight, with the accompanying smiles or the misty eyes  of an audience. Some almost sing themselves, without benefit of  printed tunes — if not like one of Burns's songs, at least like a  remembered snatch echoed from childhood, or the lilt of a mountain  fiddle, or the strong rhythm of a banjo, or a lonely "holler" from  a Blue Ridge cove, or the haunting minor melody of an old  spiritual. With some slight aid from the editors, perhaps, their  settings and their atmosphere can be restored from the reader's  memory of old and familiar things, directly experienced or made  real by the cunning of fiction writers who knew and loved this  region — Olive Tilford Dargan, Thomas Wolfe, James Boyd, DuBose Heyward, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, for examples — all of  whom, by the way, used folk songs to help bring about "that  willing suspension of disbelief for the moment which constitutes  poetic faith" in their own characters, settings, and actions.

With, here and there, a little editorial assistance, but chiefly by  their own imaginative sympathy, through these songs readers may  now and then come into a part of their cultural inheritance as men  and women of Old World descent, of good American lineage, and,  in many instances, of North Carolina breeding. They may reflect  upon the curious phenomenon of hearing songs about Robin Hood  and Lord Thomas and Fair Annet and Little Hugh (of Lincoln,  perhaps) sung in a North Carolina cabin. But chiefly they will  enjoy those spirited old ballads as good song-stories. When they  read the sprightly songs of the Regulators, they may be brought to  a vivid consciousness of the ghosts of colonial history lurking behind the filling stations and the churches, or imprisoned under the  concrete pavement of old towns like Hillsboro.

Reading the Civil  War pieces, they may compare the feel of the Second World War  years with the emotions of men and women who sang 'When This  Cruel War Is Over' or of Shiloh's dark and bloody ground. A  few, perhaps, crossing Deep River, may recall the pathos of 'Little  Omie Wise,' first felt in Randolph county over a hundred years ago and shared by thousands of folk singers all the way from  there to the Far West. Many may simultaneously smile and  shudder over the coarse brutality of 'The Gosport Tragedy,' at  approximately full length in its near-British form, or compressed  into fifteen lines of the essence of Dreiser's An American Tragedy.

They may share the singers' haunting horror of Tom Dula's murder of Laura Foster. If they can take their murder straight, they  may be interested in Frankie Silver's confession and speculate on  whether she actually composed it in her cell and sang or recited  it from the gallows. They may go with Mrs. Sutton to a mountain  foot-washing and test their own reactions to the spell of the old  spirituals sung as men and women used to sing them. Or they may  smile, with affectionate remembrance, at old jingles about the goose  that drinks wine and smokes cigars, the 'possum that shakes the  'simmons down, and the antics of Old Dan Tucker. These and a  thousand other scenes and actions and fleeting emotions accompany  a thoughtful and sympathetic reading of the following folk songs.  Mrs. Sutton's long note on 'Kitty Wells' illuminates a background  of one group of songs which doubtless lies behind many another :

"This song, widely known and sung in North Carolina, is credited to Thomas Sloan, Jr., and was first published in broadside
form in New York in the sixties. This version, which is, I think,  practically correct, I learned from my great-aunt, Mrs. Harvey  West. Aunt Susie died when I was a little girl, but she sang this  song a great deal, and I learned it from her. Since I have been  interested in collecting songs, I have heard it in a great many places. I am not sure that it is an authentic folk-song, for it was  certainly distributed first by means of printed copies. But, it has  been made the property of the folk and is handed down by word  of mouth from mother to daughter in all sections of the United  States. [Good definition of a folk song. — F. C. B.]

"I heard 'Big Tom' Wilson's granddaughter sing it up at the  foot of Mt. Mitchell on the Yancey county side, one autumn after-
noon. The Wilson home, right at the entrance to the road up Mt.  Mitchell, is a big white house tucked in under the first ridge of
the giant peak. A stream of icy water runs beside the house and  empties into the Cane River right where the lovely valley begins.  Mrs. Wilson is a young woman with a sweet, plaintive voice. She  plays folksongs on a guitar and sings them better than any hillbilly singer I have heard.

"My friend Charles Pegram, of the Lenoir Nezvs-Topic, says  that most of my songs can be heard from the Caldwell county jail
any time. That the inhabitants of the cells in our particular bastile  often sing lonesome tunes and ballads. That is likely true; I have  collected a great many during court weeks in Lenoir. An old  banjo picker who used to come down from the mountains every  court and sit around and sing, specialized on 'Kitty Wells.' He  sang a number of genuine mountain ballads, as 'Pearlie Bryan' and  'Frankie Silvers.' I don't know his name, but I remember him  sitting on the courthouse lawn with his banjo and singing the songs  that this audience asked him to sing. It was his boast that he knew  every one they asked for.

"Up in Avery there is a ballad singer named Huskins. He  spends a good deal of his time in Raleigh or Atlanta, due to the
fact that he frequently operates a still 'up the branch sommers.' I  came by his home one day and went in out of the rain. He and  his wife sang ballads for me all the afternoon. They knew and  sang a number of the best of the traditional ballads, but their taste  ran to the outlaw ballads and home-made songs. It was he who  gave the idea that the Frankie and Johnny cycle was based on   the Silvers murder. He is the happiest, brightest person imaginable  and it is hard to understand how he happens to fancy the mourn fulest, most tragic songs that he can learn. He had a home-made  banjo, very old, that he liked.

"Mountain homes a few years ago often had home-made musical  instruments. The dulcimer, about which a great deal has been  written and which is often found in Kentucky mountain homes, is  not so well known in this state. I had a man to offer to make me  a dulcimer when he heard I wanted to find one. Then, in the loft  of a crib or barn at my great-grandfather's home six miles from  Lenoir, I found one once. It was very crude, and of course had  no strings. No one knew who had made it, or to whom it belonged. The dulcimer is related to the zither and was doubtless brought to this country by the Germans.

"I wish that some sweet-voiced North Carolina girl would get  an Irish harp and learn to play it and sing the lonesome tunes to
that accompaniment. It would be a very effective thing. A group of English singers, the Fullers, came to America some 15 years  ago with a concert that they called 'A Garland of English Country  Song.' They used an Irish harp to accompany three girls singing  ballads. Three of the songs they used in that program have  appeared in this series. It is true that the Irish harp has not been  used by North Carolina singers, and therefore might not be authentic, but it is the instrument to which the songs and their sweet,  plaintive airs belong. If some girl with a low-pitched voice would  sing to an Irish harp accompaniment "The Riddle Song,' 'The  Gypso Davie,' and a lullabye that I have, it would be as beautiful  a thing as anyone has done with North Carolina folk material. I  can't sing. If she can, then I shall get her an Irish harp and teach  her some of the ballads.

"In the very upper end of this county is a settlement known as  Carey's Flats. It is tucked in under the long ridge of the Grand-
father's Mountain and is one of the wildest and most picturesque  places in the eastern end of the Blue Ridge. An old ballad singer  died up there a few years ago, who knew and loved every song that  I have written about in this series. She was a moonshiner. She  made corn-liquor for 40-odd years, and was frequently 'up in court.'  The first time that I remember seeing her, I was sent by my mother  to the courthouse to give a message to my father. The courthouse  then stood in the center of the square in Lenoir and was a square  brick structure with a door and set of steps facing each point of the  compass. The north entrance faced the town pump, and I chose  that entrance to go in. This old woman stood on the lower step in  earnest conversation with 'Governor' W. C. Newland and Moses  Harshaw, two distinguished lawyers.

"She wore a slat bonnet and a gray homespun dress, and was a  lean, slab-sided old woman, but her smoky gray eyes were as keen  and strong as those of a wildcat. Just as I slipped by her on the  steps, she said : 'I can prove by God that I never made nary drop  this side the Caldwell county line.' I shall never forget the feeling  with which I paused on the top step and looked with awe-stricken  eyes at the sky above, the blue sweep of mountains to the north.  I feared that the awful thing the woman had said would bring  immediate results.

"Her home was as picturesque as she. It was a tiny cabin in a  narrow hollow where the hills draw in close. Gray, weather-beaten,  and old, it had sagged to a sort of resemblance of the hillside and  cliffs behind it. Over the door hung a pair of buck's antlers and  inside the cabin were a great many skins of animals and a few  well-preserved heads of deer, wildcats, panthers, and other native  animals. There was a vacant place over the mantel, or 'fireboard,'  as she called it. Mr. Stokes Penland declared that she told him  she was saving that space for the head of a 'revenue officer.'

"The last time she was in court, the new county of Avery had  been formed, and she was tried in Newland. The judge was loath
to send an old woman to the State Prison, and she was obviously  guilty. He ordered her to leave the State. She went 'jist a-little  piece yan-side State-line Hill.' There she took up her abode. Two  or three times a week she would drag her old form up Roan Mountain to look at the Grandfather. The Governor of North Carohna  then was the gentle Bickett. Someone carried the story to him, and  he rescinded the sentence and let her come home.

"The last time I saw her was on the Yonahlossee turnpike, one  summer afternoon. She strode along with several boys and men —  sons and grandsons. Her slat bonnet was folded in the middle and  lay across her head. She wore the same style dress she had worn   on the long-ago morning when I heard her appeal to the Deity to  prove her innocence of crime. Her smoky gray eyes had the film  of age, but she smiled when I recalled myself to her and wanted  to know if I were still 'traipsin' over the country huntin' old  songs.'

"She had 'riccolected' one that I might like, she thought, and  she stopped, sat down on a log and sang it for me. It was one of
the best I have, a traditional ballad that goes back to the fourteenth  century and was in an excellent state of preservation. Unfortunately, it was much too broad in its subject matter for inclusion  in any published collection. It had some interesting changes. A  foot-page had become a 'foot-spade,' and a lord had become a  landlord. Otherwise, the ballad was much as it was when some  minstrel composed it. The story was of a girl who loved too well  and followed her lover as his 'foot spade' through rivers and forests and across swamp and mountain to the home of his ancestors.  His mother was puzzled at the beauty and charm of the page and  warned her son that his wife might notice the 'boy.' I had my  ballad book with me and showed the singer the original ballad.  ['Child Waters.'— F. C. B.]

" 'Lord, I don't know Z from bull's foot,' she said. 'If I had to  git my songs from ballits like you do, I'd have to quit the practice.'

" 'It would be mighty nigh as hard on the old womern to quit  singin' as it was to quit stillin',' one of the men in the party volun-
teered. She withered him with a glance.

"I read the ballad to her. Then I told her how old it was and how many generations of singers had sung it.

" 'Well, they's been a-many of a womern with just about that  much sense,' the old woman observed. 'When a womern gets her  head set on a man she's apt to do any fool thing.'

"She asked me to go to see her, and always I meant to do so.  She died several years ago, and her cabin home is abandoned. It  isn't far from the falls of Gregg's Prong of Wilson's Crest, and  is included in the new boundary of the Pisgah National Forest.
I hope the wardens and foresters will leave it alone and let it stand  as a type of the homes that were built by the earlier pioneers."

A few warnings and spare promises may not be inappropriate.  The usual aesthetic criteria of poetry hardly apply to folk song.
Folk song style is conventional, but its conventions are peculiar to  it or are the castoff habits of older art poetry. One should not  expect to encounter often in folk poetry a compelling image, and  should feel pleased to find it, now and then, as in the blending of  wind and train whistle in 'Down in the Valley.' Beauty and distinction of line are usually lacking; curiosa felicitas of phrase is  rare. There is little of the reflective or subjective element that  one finds in noble art poetry. Human feeling is elemental, unshaded. To look for these qualities in folk song is vain. But to  read folk poetry is to come close to the preoccupations, the tastes,  and the manners of our common humanity, to understand better the  motives that have impelled average men and women throughout the  ages, and the attitudes they have taken to the casualties of the  human lot. Here is courage that meets disaster with a series of  jests, as in 'The Ballit of the Boll Weevil'; and death with a  wistful farewell to a banjo, as in 'Tom Dula's Lament,' in which  the North Carolina mountaineer murderer precedes Willa Gather's  Spanish Johnny, who

The night before he swung he sang
To his mandolin.

Here, too, is a naive but sure grasp of the heart of tragedy, as in
'Twenty-one Years Is a Mighty Long Time' —

I've counted the days, Babe, I've counted the nights,
I've counted the moments, I've counted the lights,
I've counted the footsteps, I've counted the stars,
I've counted a thousand of the prison bars.

This is a collection of about nine hundred ballads and songs  (with a few rhymes recited rather than sung) recovered chiefly
from oral tradition among the people (white and colored) of North  Carolina during the period 1912-44. They were collected by the  late Frank C. Brown, of Trinity College and Duke University;  the members of the North Carolina Folklore Society, of which
Professor Brown was a founder and was for about thirty years  secretary-treasurer and archivist; friends and former students of  Professor Brown ; and various interested individuals who had no direct relationship to Professor Brown or the North Carolina Folk-lore Society. A few of the ballads and songs are known to have  been sung as far back as 1765; some, during the Revolutionary  Period, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; many, during the  latter half of the nineteenth century; most of them, during the first  forty years of the present century.

A majority, perhaps, are survivals or modifications of ballads and songs imported from the Old  World, and have been shared with the people of other states; of  these, a considerable number, in particular the forty-nine corresponding to ballads in Francis J. Child's The English and Scottish  Popular Ballads, have a known history dating from the seventeenth  and eighteenth centuries. A considerable number of pieces originated in America, outside of North Carolina; one in 1761, the  others during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A comparatively small number originated in North Carolina. Irrespective of age, origin, and period of circulation, these ballads and songs have  borne a needful part in the emotional and imaginative life of the  people, as connected with their work and play, their loving and  hating, their war-making and politicking, their nurture of children,
and their worship of God. Together with relevant facts about the  ballads and songs, this collection is published, under the auspices  of Duke University and the North Carolina Folklore Society, as a  memorial to the scholar and teacher whose lifelong love and care  brought them together.

The Editors of the Ballads and Songs in the Frank C. Brown  Collection of North Carolina Folklore stand in a somewhat unusual
relation to the material here presented. Neither is a native of  North Carolina. One has never been in the state. The other has
had only about twenty years' residence, at Chapel Hill. Though  both have had experience as folk-song collectors in other fields,  neither has collected extensively in North Carolina. Thus, they  have lacked that intimacy of contact with the songs, the singers, and  the milieu of this collection which they had when they edited their  own collections.

Consequently, for the local background and history of the ballads  and songs, they have had to rely upon data supplied by the various  collectors' notes and by Professor Brown's (these in some instances  extensive), supplemented by results of such research as accessible  printed documents and local inquiry and correspondence yielded.  For some contributions, especially those of Mrs. Maude Minish  Sutton, the notes have been abundant. For the great majority,  however, the information furnished has been limited to the bare  facts of local provenience — the name and (usually) the address of  the singer or the informant, or of both, and generally, though not  always, the date of the singing or transmission of the song.

Such conditions affecting the editorial handling of the texts have  not, of course, hampered investigation of the history of pieces  known to be included in the collected corpus of American folk song,  except (and this is sometimes an important exception) as this  history has exhibited local features possible for the field worker  himself to note, but not always noted by the collector or informant.  Most of the relevant general facts concerning the history of previously published songs are usually deducible from the collections   containing them. The point where limitations of available information are most felt is in the handling of ballads and songs originated  in North Carolina or strongly flavored by their currency in the  state. In dealing with these, the Editors have often lamented their  lack of the original collector's firsthand experience and observation, which frequently throw upon a song light obtained by no other  means. The limitations of the Editors' contact with the ballads  and songs have, then, made themselves felt in various ways.

One of these ways has had to do with the problem of classification  and arrangement — always vexing under even the best conditions.  As the Editors worked with the songs, within the frame of Professor Brown's collector's classification, it became evident that this  frame, while good enough for collecting and filing the texts, would  not be the clearest and most effective for published presentation,  and that he himself would probably have modified it. Many of the  groups overlapped, in a way that he perhaps did not realize, as the number and the variety of the songs began to pile up. Songs turned  up which did not fit into any defined category. Some could not be  classified confidently because the Editors lacked details of information which they might have noted or remembered if they had  collected the songs themselves, but which it was impossible after  the lapse of years to obtain. For example, some of the songs look  like work songs, but there is no documentary evidence that they were used as such; some look like Negro spirituals, but (if the  fact would make any difference!) there is nothing to show whether
they were sung by Negroes or by whites; some "religious" songs   are so naive or absurd, or seem to skate so near the thin ice of  sacrilege, that they look like travesties, yet there is no evidence  that the singers regarded them as such.

MUSIC (Volume 4)
The collecting, comparing, and editing of folk ballads and songs has had a long history, dating back to the eighteenth century, and the methods are now established as a special discipline. With folk tunes it is different. Even the name is new: is it folk-song or jolk song or folksong? (It did not get into the O.E.D. until the 1933 Supplement.) Child had, of course, included a number of airs — actually fifty-five, more or less equivalent to fifteen in our Collection — from manuscript sources; but only after
Edison's phonograph came into use was it possible to take down words  and music together just as the ballad was sung and so have a record of  folk music as it is now and presumably was in the long past. For many  of the tunes are traditional like the words. Still there are difficulties.  To transfer the sounds that come from the recording instrument into standard musical notation is not simple. The untrained singer does not always  sing true; he may flat or sharp or unconsciously transpose downwards  for convenience; he seldom sings the second stanza quite like the first; he  may even forget and extemporize a little. Or, aware of a 'learned' audience and eager to please, he will sometimes embellish and so falsify the melody. Or, on the other hand, the trained singer will invent, improve; he is an artist in his way. So, as one writer has put it: folk song is  "beg-otten of a long succession of singers, altering, extending, elaborating,  and corrupting."

What in German is called Dorfkimst, the natural ways of the unsophisticated singer, may suffer a sea change by musicological analysis and  transcription. The traditional singer knows nothing of plagal cadences,  of the Mixolydian mode or the pentatonic mode or the well-tempered  scale, or of quarter tones and neutral tones, or of the disturbing influence  of the familiar major and minor. The tonal center is a matter of indifference to him. He may alter the tune almost beyond recognition by
unpremeditated formulaic borrowing or by the necessity of contracting  and expanding to fit a different or an imperfectly remembered text. Thus  the scholar faces a, bewildering range of possibilities. How far shall he  go in normalizing, correcting the inevitable shortcomings of the record?  He must have not only a sensitive ear but also a delicate judgment to  distinguish bad singing from the subtle mysteries of folk memory, to  tell a legitimate variation from a careless mixture of different melodies ;  and so on. "The study of tunes," wrote Professor Entwistle in 1939,  "encounters a number of difficulties which have not been adequately sumounted." This about says it all.

It also enables us to recognize Professor Schinhan's skill in meeting  those difficulties. His painstaking annotations have some of the immitigable minuteness of our preceding volumes. They may be caviar to the  reader, who will not understand them or perhaps need them, but they  have their place. (Anyone who thinks them a bit excessive should glance  through the 450 pages of Serbo-Croatian Folk Songs edited by Bela  Bartok and Albert B. Lord, New York, 1951.) They have their place  if only to remind us again of the abiding strength of tradition, which  preserves in the musical habits of our untutored contemporaries so much  that is not only 'primitive' but also classical (Greece and Rome) and  mediaeval (the Church) and so being both classical and mediaeval is also  modern. Even some of the language and methods of analysis are ancient;  and those of us who have a "leaven of malice" in our make-up will note,  without distress, that just as many of the tunes have lost part of their  modal correctness, just so many of their previous commentators have been led astray by their harmonic prepossessions,

P.F.B.

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PREFACE (Volume 4)

WILLIAM A. Neilson, writing in the first edition of Encyclopedia  Americana (1918) says: "Thus, the life of a modern poem begins  when it is committed to paper; a ballad then begins to die." Having this  in mind, it was reluctantly and with serious concern that this editor, after  two weeks of consideration, finally accepted the invitation extended to  him by the late Dr. Newman I. White, the general editor of this Collection, to join his editorial staff. This meant to take over the transcription
of the recordings of more than one thousand ballads and songs, and the  editing of volumes IV and V which contain the music of the ballads and  songs.

It was only the hope that these transcriptions of the tunes recorded  by Dr. Brown might serve someone who loved this precious heritage to  refresh his mind, recall impressions of earlier days and thus relive them  in happy reminiscence, which assuaged the troubled mind of this editor.  Perchance, they might also serve to introduce some persons to tunes they  never heard before, or at least not in the versions given here. They might thus add to the store of treasures which have come down to us from  the early settlers on this continent. And so, it was the hope such persons  might sing the airs for themselves and others, and, in the course of time,  the old process of 'collective composition' would take up where it left  off, and our ballad tradition, oral as usual, would again come to life.

When Dr. White approached this editor some years ago, he said there  were more than a thousand songs recorded by Dr. Brown, but that all of  them, not counting the ones destroyed in transit to the Library of Congress, had been transferred by technicians of the Library using the best  of recording discs and the most modern means available today. On the  strength of this and this writer's familiarity with the excellence of work  done by the Music Division of the Library of Congress, he accepted the  task. Only later did Dr. White inform him that Dr. Brown, in his  enthusiasm over his recordings, had played these records (wax cylinders)  numerous times for his students, without so much as changing needles.  The result was that the 'dubbing' reproduced the resultant scratch of the  needle with a disconcerting degree of fidelity. Add to this the fact that  too many of the cylinders, while not totally destroyed in transit, were  cracked enough so that the needle used in playing them produced, in  passing over the cracks, a sound pattern similar to that of a railroad car passing over the joints of the tracks. This is mentioned only to explain  to some degree why it has taken so very long before even the part containing the ballads could appear.

Several additional factors added to the general difficulties. First, for  the longest time, only very few of the texts to the ballads and songs were  available to this editor before the galley proofs had been printed. None but one experienced in these matters will be able to understand how, when  listening to such a recording, one might be convinced of hearing certain  words, only afterwards to find out that he was mistaken. Another psychologically interesting factor is that, because of the singing as well as recording, at first the words could not be understood at all ; hut with the  text available for reference, the words, after several hearings, became perfectly clear. Thus, it once happened that this editor, complying with the  request of the co-editors of volumes II and III, supplied them with the  words as they had been taken down from a very poor recording. Only  much later, upon visiting the singer of this song, fortunately still alive,  was he able to find out what some of the words really were.

The second factor has to do with the process of transferring the recordings from the wax cylinders to the discs. The work supposedly was done  by experts in this field but the product delivered made it quite evident  that, at that time, all the personnel suitable for painstaking and very  exacting work was drained off for war purposes. There are several
reasons for this opinion. First, the technician doing that work evidently  never gave it a thought that anyone would expect to have the whole song  reproduced as it was originally recorded. But time and time again it  happens that the song as given on the disc starts three to four measures  after the beginning. Fortunately, in such cases more than one stanza was  recorded. Being familiar with the great care which Dr. Brown used in  his recording procedures — always signaling his informant when he was  ready to record — the editor is certain that the fault lies with the technician  entrusted with that work.

The third factor has to do with the needle scratch and the noise produced by the cracked cylinders. This editor, during 1931-32, while engaged  in similar work at the Anthropological Institute at the University of  California at Berkeley, also had to work with many wax cylinders containing some very valuable Indian songs. Similar scratching sounds  caused him to try, but in vain, to get the co-operation of the Physics  Department, in order to have someone construct an electric device incorporating scratch filters which would greatly mitigate the difficulty. He  finally explained his idea to Dr. Alfred Kroeber, who transmitted it to
the department at Yale University, of which Miss Helen Roberts was a  member. She was more fortunate in receiving the necessary co-operation,  a fact that can readily be verified from her article dealing with this matter. (ZVMW III (1935) 75-83). Why these means were not used in 'dubbing'  the wax recordings of this Collection this editor has never learned.

The fourth and last factor proved the most exasperating and time- consuming of all. The easiest explanation would be, of course, to suspect  some subversive influence with the intent to destroy the value of the  work. While this editor does not subscribe to such ideas, he finds it  nevertheless difficult to understand how such things ordinarily could  happen.

All of the original records were carefully labeled and catalogued,  using various means like I, II, III; la, ib, ic,; A, B, C, etc. How it  was possible to mix up the labels on the new discs for recordings which are as widely separated as cylinders C and X, to name but one instance,  is still an open question. When each cylinder contains between 15 and 20  songs, and one tries to make out songs of cylinder X (according to the  catalogue), which finally are found to represent the songs on cylinder C,
the resulting confusion and difficulty should be evident. It was only  through the good fortune that this editor happened to know some related  versions and was sure about the relationship, that he, through laborious  research, finally uncovered all the mistakes resulting from labeling more  than a half dozen discs incorrectly.

Now that all of the more than 1250 songs have been transcribed, these  troubles fortunately belong to the past and seem mere bad dreams. If it  has taken an inordinate amount of time until at least volume IV is ready  for publication, perhaps the editor can plead for mercy under extenuating  circumstances. He wishes to state, though, that many times during all these  many months he thoroughly sympathized with Thomas Morley, who, after  finishing his A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, said : ". . .  if I had before I began it, imagined half the pains and labour which it  cost me, I would sooner have been persuaded to anything than to have  taken in hand such a tedious piece of work. . ."

In this connection, however, it is a pleasant duty to express my sincere  appreciation of the kind consideration and superhuman patience shown  me by Professor Paull F, Baum of Duke University and the director of  its Press, Mr. Ashbel Brice.

Last but not least I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness and express  my unbounded gratitude to my wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Logan Schinhan, who,  throughout these years, has stood by me not only uncomplainingly, but  always encouragingly. And it is no exaggeration to say, that without  her invaluable assistance in many ways, this volume would have never  reached completion.

J.P.S.
Chapel Hill
February, 1957

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INTRODUCTION (Volume 4)

THERE are a number of songs in the following pages of which volume II gives only one version, but in many cases the transcription of the  recordings made by Dr. Brown has increased the number of versions  considerably. All these additional versions have been specially marked,  thus: if the number of the song is 20, then any additional versions are  20(1), 20(2), etc. On the other hand, if volume II contains a number of  versions marked 20A, 20B, 20C, etc., then the new versions are marked
with letters, beginning where the others had left off: 20D, 20E, etc.

Preceding each musical score will be found the name of the singer  and the place and date of recording, whenever available. Following this  are appropriate references concerning melodic relationships with any other  version of this Collection, according to the number of the ballad or song  as found in volumes II and III. The very few exceptions to this method  are explicitly noted. Text references are usually to such versions as are  found in the various other published collections available.

The numbers above the music score at the right coincide with those  affixed to each scale as found in Appendix B. The scale picture given  there will enable anyone to acquaint himself at a glance with the tonal
material basic to the particular melody. In the music score itself, the sigti
' merely indicates a perceptible break in the tonal flow without, however,
suggesting a measurable amount of lapsed time. The same is true of the
sign ^ . In general, this symbol indicates the traditional extension of
duration by half the value of the note above which it occurs. Sometimes,
however, whether because the singer was trying to reassure himself of
what was to follow, or because he merely enjoyed holding the tone, the
limits indicated above are ignored. It was not felt necessary to indicate
these few instances by a special sign. Another sign frequently used in
the notation of primitive music, the double slur ;::: , merely serves to
indicate a portamento, which, at times, really approaches the primitive.
The two barlines (lighter than those at the end), serve to separate the
chorus or refrain from the stanza. They are always placed before the
first full measure of the former, thus ignoring any up-beat with which this
part might begin. Anyone with even a slight musical knowledge will have
no difficulty ascertaining the beginning of the chorus.

Immediately below the score will be found all the melodic variations
which the singer made while rendering the several stanzas of a song, if
more than one were recorded. The numbers above the various measures
representing the variations refer to the measures thus affected, number I
always indicating the first full measure. If several consecutive measures
are involved, this is indicated accordingly : 3-5, 7-9, etc. Only in rare
cases, when it seemed important to give the continuity of the line rather
than disjunct parts, is the complete varied stanza given.

The melodic variations are followed by a comparison of the respective
melody with other versions found in the leading collections available. This
section carries the designation : For melodic relationship cf. Thus, three
asterisks indicate the highest percentage of relationship : identical to very
close; two asterisks indicate very close relationship to considerable simi-
larity; and for anything less than that, one asterisk is used.

Next follows an analysis of each individual song: the scale or mode,
the tonal center, and the structure of the melody. For the scales, the
reader is referred to the detailed discussion under Scales below, explaining
the procedures followed as well as the pitfalls and mistakes to be avoided.
Itneed only be added here that in tetra-, penta-, and hexatonic scales, the
missing tone is always indicated thus: (3), (6), etc.

The term tonal center for the fundamental tone of a scale or mode,
has been chosen in order to get away from the concept of tonic and domi-
nant, which nowadays always involves harmonic connotations.

To indicate the structure of each song, the familiar aa, ab, abc, etc.,
are used. Only in the case of the barform and inverted barform are the
symbols adopted which Alfred Lorenz used :i e.g. m, m^, n, or n, m, m^.
The number of measures represented by each letter is always given.^ The sign + when occurring above any note merely serves to indicate  that this tone was sung a fraction higher than normally expected.

Whenever the song ends on a degree other than the fundamental, this  is indicated by the term "Circular tune."

Any text variant not found in volumes II or III. e.g., a text of a song  available only through transcription from the recording, will be found  following all the above-mentioned remarks in connection with the individual song.

[Cf. Alfred O. L. Lorenz, Das Geheimnis der Form bet Richard Wagner Berhn, 1926, 11, 191-2. Also Harvard Dictionary, pp. 74-5, and Journal of American Mtistcological Society, viii (Spring, 1955), No. i, 77-8.]

Methods of Analysis

In any approach to folk music, even if not quite to the same extent as  in the study of so-called primitive music, one must leave behind many a  cherished concept of what certain things are, or what they should be.  Since the music to which we are daily exposed is completely based on  harmonic relationships, it is not easy for us to dissociate ourselves from  this kind of thinking; and this fact is readily seen in many of the publications dealing with folk songs. From the key signatures imposed on the
various melodies it is easily seen how this traditional way of thinking dominates the field. More of this, however, later.

One thing is absolutely certain. In all attempts at analysis it is essential not only to find means and methods which are adequate for the task,  but also to agree upon terms which are understandable and acceptable to  others. Definitions should be as clear and concise as it is humanly possible  to make them. That all such terms and all such definitions will be accept-

Mn dealing with the various structures, any variation in the restatement of  a phrase is always indicated by ai, a2, a3, or bi b2, b3, etc., the different numerals merely suggesting the progressive status of the variation technicable to all scholars is, perhaps, too Utopian a hope to indulge in, but it  would be ideal if all scholars would say what they mean, and mean what  they say.

The analysis of music has a long history and it is therefore proper  that the established technical vocabulary, familiar to trained musicians,  should be adopted in the discussion of what has become a rather specialized  field, folk music. This conviction has been the point of departure in the  following analyses ; for only when the standard, accepted terms and  methods prove inadequate should others be tried, and then only after  careful definition and explanation.

The present method has been developed over a period of more than  twenty-five years in the discussion of ballads and folk songs. It is based  on six comprehensive features which, though they sometimes overlap, must  be treated separately:

1. Scales and modes

2. Range

3. Melodic line, or interval succession in pitch

4. Meter, or interval succession in time

5. Structure, or Gesalt: over-all rhythm

6. Rendition

In all attempts at analysis one cannot afford to omit or neglect anything, or to take anything for granted. In the case of music, if one omits  the very tonal material which is the basis of all musical expression, namely  the scales used in the songs, why concern oneself with what one author has  termed 'tonal sequence,' in the sense that one tone follows another in all
melodies — although of course mostly with varying intervals ? This ex-
pression has a definite and different meaning, well established. 'Tonal'
denotes two distinct factors in music, both of which have the same basic
idea, that of pertaining to the same key or tonality. The first application
of this term is found in discussions of the fugue, when dealing with
several possible answers to the original theme, and then refers specifically
to one particular type of answer, which is so constructed that it preserves
completely the tonality in which the theme was announced. This then is
called a 'tonal answer.' The second application serves simply to state the
fact of staying within the key. The term 'sequence,' aside from its use
in early liturgical music, is now universally accepted to indicate "the repe-
tition in one and the same part of a short musical phrase at another
pitch. . . ." If the repetitions are made without accidentals (no change
of key), the sequence is called tonal, or diatonic.^

[* Willi Apel, Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge, Mass., 1944, p. 672.]

1. Scales.
From the preceding discussion of the term 'tonal sequence,'  even if the intended meaning of 'one tone following another' should be  accepted, it would not be surprising if someone asked what tones. A  house can be built of brick, brick-veneer, rocks, cement blocks, or just  lumber, and in each case, it will differ considerably in looks as well as  cost. The same is true of a piece of jewelry. It might be made of platinum, gold, silver, or any kind of composition metal and have either precious stones or just imitations. In each case, not only the looks and cost,  but also the quality and therefore the aesthetic value will differ. All this  is not less true of a melody. It is only too frequent that the latter is of a  very trite quality and conveys nothing but the cheapest kind of musical  expression.

In language the different kinds of material, as vowels, consonants,
diphthongs, etc., take the form of alphabets; and each different language
has its own alphabet providing the symbols which, arranged in various
combinations, convey ideas, feelings, or moods. Music also has its alpha-
bet. From the limited material offered by scales, consisting at first of
two or three tones, through the mediaeval modes and up to our twelve-
tone scales, the creative musician selects, mostly intuitively, the necessary
items which will serve him for the expression of an idea, a feeling, or a
mood. As a spoken language is simply a means of thinking in words, so
the language of music is a mode of thinking in tones. As the alphabetic
symbols, or letters, however, do not by themselves convey any meaning,
so likewise single tones — arbitrary selections of all possible tones — have
no real meaning by themselves. As with words, so in music, there must
be a selection of single parts and a varied combination of them. For
example, the same five letters in different arrangement yield six different
English words, some of which are familiar, others rare : tones, notes,
stone, sonet, seton, toscn. So in music one may instance the beginning
of Wagner's Bridal Chorus in Lohengrin and that of the overture to
his Meistersinger. There is, however, an important difference. Whatever
has been achieved in program music based on the power of suggestion
(something like the echoic words buss, snip, etc.), no combination of
musical tones has the absolute concrete signification of words like hard,
soft, house, tree, and so on.

For years the present writer has stressed in his teaching the necessity  of considering the quantitative value of each individual tone in relation to  all others which occur in any given melody. It may, perhaps, be surprising to many people to find out what a great difference a varying emphasis  on certain tones can make in two melodies which otherwise share exactly  the same tonal material. What makes the difference? The choice of  material ? Yes, but mostly the judicious use of this material, the decision
about when and how much of this and how much of that. The choice  made as well as the use of and emphasis on some of the selected ingredients of the available tonal material is known as mode.'*

All modes consist of the identical tonal material; they differ only in  their use of it. This may be likened to the different behavior of individual  persons when confronted with an identical situation. The situation, like  the tonal material, is the same; only the handling of it, the behavior, differs. Our C major, for example, is tonally identical with the Church  mode known as Ionian, but the latter 'behaves' in a considerably different  manner from the former ; and the same is true of our minor scale and the  Church mode called Aeolian. Although both our major and minor scales, on the basis of their characteristic behavior, could be classified among the  modes traditionally accepted as such, they have never been ofiicially so  classified. There is, however, one group of tonal rows*, the various members of which have been taken into the family of modes. This tonal row  is known as pentatonic scale or mode.

[* Knud Jeppesen, Counterpoint, New York, 1939, p. 62.]

At this point some technical matters must be frankly discussed.

The first is the various ways in which the five possible versions of a  pentatonic mode are derived. Of the infinite variety of such scales theoretically possible, only two are given in The Harvard Dictionary (pp. 563-64), the 'tonal' and 'semitonal penta-scale.' Of the former, the author says:  "Properly speaking, there exists only one such scale (transpositions  apart), namely: c d f g a c'." In this statement there is only one thing  wrong. The different modes which can be derived from this basic scale  are not the result of transposition but of inversion. Dr. Jackson^ uses  this same approach, calling each new mode derived by inversion, progressively I, II, III, IV, V. Helmholtz*' begins the same way, up to the  second mode, which constitutes the first inversion of the original scale.  Then, for reasons only known to him, he seems to abandon all logic and  calls the second inversion (based on the third tone of the original scale)  IV, the following inversions III and V. Rieman'^ recognizes only three
possibilities: c'd'f'g'a'(c"d") ; g'a'c'd'e'(g"a") ; and d'e'g'a'b'(d"e"). It  will readily be seen, however, that in this case, these so-called three possibilities are really nothing but the same pattern, only this time actually  transposed. H. K. Andrews, in Grove's Dictionary,^ begins the series  with what in Dr. Jackson's series and that given in Harvard Dictionary  would be V, or the fourth inversion.

In view of these divergences a choice must be made. Since the Greeks
in the pre-Terpander period had a tuning which corresponds to the first  mode, transposed (which is mentioned in the Harvard Dictionary), and  a new mode is readily to be had by inverting the mode at hand, the system  adopted by Dr. Jackson should satisfy anyone by the sheer logic of its  procedure. Therefore, in the analyses which follow all songs, this order  (I, II, III, IV, V) has been adhered to. The first mode is taken to be  that given by Dr. Jackson and the Harvard Dictionary : c'd' f'g'a' (c"d").

Let us now look at the method used in determining the mode or scale^  which a folk song is based on. First of all, one should realize that originally no harmonic connotations were involved. The present editor is in  complete agreement with Dr. Jackson, quoting Hilton Rufty: "For purposes of harmonic treatment it is quite necessary to decide upon which  particular mode a gapped tune suggests, but in studying the purely melodic  aspects, it is reasonable to accept the tune as an entity, considering it in
its actual tonal structure and not with regard to its possible modal permutations."^*'

[^ SFSEA, p. 15, quoting Hilton Rufty. The chart is at tlie end of the volume.

" Herman L. F. Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone, London, 1875,  pp. 400-3; 5th ed., revised by Alexander J. Ellis, London, 1930, p. 273.

''Hugo Riemann, Folkloristische Tonalitdtsstudien, Leipzig, 1916, p. 2.

* Grove's Dictionary of Music, 5th ed., ed. Eric Blom, London, 1954, v, 799. 
  Jeppesen, p. 62.
  SFSEA, p. 15.]

In determining a scale then, an editor or arranger must not succumb  to the years of exposure to this major or minor infection and, nolens  volens, hear every melody under this hypnotic influence.^i To be sure,  sometimes a more careful editor will discover that a particular sharp or  flat does not occur in the melody and put this sharp or flat in parentheses,  probably in order to indicate that it really is not present, but that the  reader might feel it in that key. (See Lomax, OSC, p. 129: 'Jennie
Jenkins,' to cite but one.) Then comes the dilemma. If there is a tune  which does not use the complete major scale, but does use the leading tone,  — f-sharp for example — the editor puts the signature of f-sharp in parentheses.i2 This would indicate the song might be felt to be in G major.  Since the leading tone actually appears, however, it should be in the signa-
ture; or else it should be treated as an accidental in a tone row which is  not actually G major, but discounting the 'corrupting' changes to a-sharp  and f-sharp, is the first mode of the pentatonic scale.

To repeat, if the tone actually occurs, one should not put the particular  signature in parentheses. On the other hand, if a specific tone, possible  in any given mode or tonality, docs not actually occur in the melody, it  should never be indicated in the signature. Arrangements for popular  use may be an exception, but we are here dealing with traditional folk  tunes as they were sung by real folk singers. And, as we hear them, we  should note them down.

It is regrettable that, beginning with the Child ballads and through  Cecil Sharp's splendid collection up to the very latest publications in the  field, editors are open to criticism for this biased and illogical use of signs  which actually have no meaning whatsoever. (You might as well put up  a sign "No Smoking" in a place where tobacco is unknown, if there is  such a place.) The apex of a ludicrous situation is reached when the  editor puts one or more sharps or flats in the signature and then, every
time this tone occurs, finds it necessary to place a natural sign before it,  indicating that the directions implied by the signature should be ignored. ^^

No better example of this confusion and wishful thinking could be  found than Dr. Jackson's note on the tune of 'Villulia or Bartimeus'  (Original Sacred Harp, 331). Although he correctly classifies the scale  as the fourth mode of the pentatonic scale based on f-sharp, he adds:  "The Sacred Harp editor evidently looked upon this tune as one in a- minor, whereas it is probably a dorian melody with /-sharp as its tonic,  and should have also a rf-sharp in its key signature.''^^ Now if there were
a third, supposedly 'a,' we might well speak of the lower Dorian tetrachord, but not, as yet, of a Dorian mode. When Dr. Jackson, however,  continues : "and should have also a c-sharp in its key signature," one must  justly wonder. This "c-sharp" indeed turns out to be the crucial point.

[^^ As to hearing harmony everywhere in folk song, cf. James F Mursell  The^ Psychology of Music, New York, 1937, p. 102.

[[Ci. Lomax, OSC, p. 128: 'Where Have You Been, My Good Old Man?'  A^-' P-. EFSSC and SharpK. In all examples specifically marked Dorian,  Mixolydian, or Aeolian, there is always either one sharp or flat in the signature  which, however, is invariably canceled whenever that specific tone occurs in the  melody.

[" SFSEA, p. 50, No. 21.]

As can easily be seen, there is no sixth degree in the scale as extracted  from the melody, and therefore it is anybody's guess what this sixth de-gree might be, if it occurred. This is equally true, of course, when we  consider the imaginary 'a.' But somebody, following Dr. Jackson's example, might prefer an a-sharp. If, in addition to this imaginary member,
we added the sixth degree as d-sharp, the Mixolydian mode would result.  If someone else expressed his preference for 'a' and 'd' respectively, we  would have the Aeolian mode. The creator of the melody seems to have  made his own choice. He used a pure pentatonic scale in his own individual way, and the result is the fourth mode of the pentatonic scale. This
should be sufficient.

Of many possible examples only one need be submitted. In A Song  Catcher in Southern Mountains we find not only the same generous distribution of sharps and flats, but also some new and unfortunate terms.^^  On page 381 the writer after classifying 'Fair Ellen' (p. 393E) as Pentatonic I, speaks of it as having a "false Mixolydian ending" — a term borrowed from Cecil Sharp. On page 401 we meet a frustrated "septatonic"  scale; and on page 404 a "Variable Aeolian mode" for what is only a
chromatically altered (corrupted) pentatonic mode. Now what is a false  Mixolydian ending? 'False' is an old term for what is generally known  as 'deceptive.' Thus, a false Mixolydian ending should be a deceptive  cadence which, although usually associated with the progression from the
fifth to the sixth degree, is also applicable to any other progression from
the fifth degree excepting that to the first. But in all deceptive cadences,
the fifth degree is the point of departure, not the resting point. According
to the writer, however, a major song apparently has a false Mixolydian
ending if it ends on the fifth degree, which, judging from the examples,
is approached from above.

The difficulty is that there are quite a number
of songs in the same collection which are circular tunes and which have
identically the same ending. The question then arises : When is a tune
circular, and when does it have a false Mixolydian ending? It seems
somewhat arbitrary to deny a major melody {no harmonic thinking) to
come to rest by way of a descending motion, actually implied by the term
cadence. The major mode, according to our present knowledge, was
already established in secular music by the thirteenth century; and its
'subversive' influence can be traced throughout the succeeding centuries.
Folk music in these periods being inevitably influenced by the music of the
Church, just as the reverse was true, it should not be so surprising that
the modal tradition, although accepted by the people, gradually, under the
influence of secular music, experienced numerous modifications.

In the method adopted here to determine the type of scale or mode  underlying each tune, the scalic material is always counted from the tonal  center up, regardless of the fact that in the majority of cases the fundamental tone of the scale or mode is not the lowest tone in the scale picture. ^^ Many times the scale goes four tones or more below this tonal  center, while at other times it is less, even only one tone below. In all these instances, the term plagal is affixed to indicate that the tonal material  extends below the fundamental tone of the particular scale. As in the  terminology pertaining to the Church modes, plagal indicates a mode beginning a fourth below the fundamental ; any extension or lack of the
norm might be indicated by plus or minus signs, but for the sake of sim-
plicity these are omitted here. Tones which duplicate those that are part
of the designated scale, either below or above the terminal points, do not
affect the character of the scale or mode (beyond the plagal quality) and
are not considered; they appear, however, in the scale picture (see Ap-
pendix B), where also the relative frequency of their occurrence can be
seen. On the other hand, sometimes the complete scale picture can be
shown only by transferring some of the tones one octave higher or lower.

^° SCSM. The section on "Modal Aspects" is the work of Elna Sherman.
'" Out of 512 versions of ballad tunes, 384 are plagal.

While classifying the varying tonal material, no consistent effort has
been made to indicate the modal character of the many tunes which are
based on tetratonic, pentatonic, hexatonic, or, as the case may be, on
tetrachordal, pentachordal, hexachordal, or heptachordal material. There
is no gainsaying the fact that many of the tunes so based could be taken
as incomplete Mixolydian, Dorian, or even Aeolian modes, but likewise,
that such classifications would remain mere assumptions. In the case of
the tetratonic scales the question whether they are incomplete pentachordal
or pentatonic would be left open. It was felt that those who really know
modal characteristics do not need to be told, and those who do not, would
not be any wiser if they were told, for example, that Nos. 422, 474, and
478 showed strong Dorian qualities. A more difficult problem is presented
by other tunes like No. 401, which, while definitely modal, cannot without
some challenge be classified as Dorian. In this particular case, the nor-
mally major sixth degree is consistently flattened.

We have seen that when it comes to deciding what scale a particular
song is based on, some additional things besides the signature must be
considered. One of these concerns the terms used to designate and classify
the tonal material of which the melody is built. How careful one needs
to be in applying sometimes well-known terminology to this task can be
shown by another example again drawn from one of Dr. Jackson's works.
It is a pity that his otherwise outstanding contributions are marred by
such lapses, merely because he failed at times to ask for advice from a
musically more informed consultant. The following passages are taken
from White and Negro Spirituals. ^"^ Very appropriately, the author
names "a tetrachordal structure one, whose tones, up to four of them,
range only between i and 4 of the diatonic scale" and a "pentachordal
structure one whose tones, up to five of them, range only between i and
5 of the diatonic scale." Then, proceeding further, he calls ''tetratonic
structure" one whose four tones form an incomplete example of one of
the pentatonic scales. Being aware, however, that some formations have
certain different characteristics, he names pentachordal forms (from i to
5) with one tone missing and "therefore also tetratonic," "tetratonic-pen-
tachordal" tunes. In all logic then, a tetratonic structure, "whose four
tones form an incomplete example of one of the pentatonic scales," would  have to be called tetratonic-pentatonic. Who is willing to usurp dictatorial
powers to declare categorically which of two possible tones in the series
c-d-f-g is missing, the e or the a?^^ The decision is vital, for in the first
case we would have a tetratonic-pentachordal, in the second, a tetratonic-
pentatonic scale.

["WNS, p. 233.]

Now, let us take the case of mode I of the pentatonic series, which goes
from I to 6. According to a strict and logical application of the pro-
cedure described above, this scale could not be called pentatonic, which is
the generally accepted term; it would have to be called pentatonic-hexa-
chordal; therefore, a gapped scale with six tones, hexatonic-heptachordal,
etc. Confusion worse confounded.

Then, in the next chapter. Dr. Jackson uses terms like ''augmented
and diminished seventh," and (p. 240) "the perfect sixth in minor en-
vironment." But actually, he is not talking about any seventh which, in
musically accepted terminology, could ever be called augmented or di-
minished. And what a perfect sixth is, is unknown to musical science.

To follow logically a manner of naming the scales which, partially, has
been in use for a long time, the present editor decided to name all scales
showing a consecutive series of tones, chordal, and those with one or more
skips, tonic. Thus we have tetrachordal, pentachordal, hexachordal, and
heptachordal as well as tetratonic, pentatonic, and hexatonic scales. Natu-
rally, according to the previous definition, there can be no such thing as a
heptatonic scale. ^^ Another slip of Dr. Jackson's is his use of the terms
"heptatonic dorian" and "heptatonic ionian."^*^ As he himself recognized,
when we deal with genuine Dorian or Ionian, they are without exception
hepta-. Otherwise, they would be hexa- or penta-, and certainly not Dorian
or Ionian. Here should be added, however, that if either of them were
hepta-, it would be heptachordal and not heptatonic.

There is a diversity of scales to be found in the ballads as well as the
folk songs and games. All of these have been classified according to their
content — from those containing only a few tones, up to those representing
the full scale as we know it, including those that have some chromatic
alterations of the diatonic tones as well.^i It should be noted that the
latter, although given in the scale picture as they occur (see Appendix B),
are not taken into account with regard to the underlying tonal structure
of the scale. Scales that do not conform, so to speak, to any of those
familiar to all of us, are, following Helmholtz,^^ called irrational. And
Helmholtz says that the Greeks already used this term (aloyx) for such
formations.

[** Ann G. Gilchrist, "Note on the Modal System of Gaelic Tunes," in JFSS,
IV, 1910-IQ13, 150-3.

^^ Cf. SharpK. In volume i alone, there are 115 scales thus classified.

*° SFSEA, pp. 29, 214 and passim.

^^ Of all possible modes, the majority of tunes are based on one of the dif-
ferent forms of the pentatonic scale. The next in frequency is the heptachordal ;
the third, one of the forms of the hexatonic scale, differing only in the omitted
scale degree.

^^ Helmholtz, p. 406 ; 5th ed., p. 264. For other deficient scales cf. Quintilian,
in Marcus Meibom, Antiqva Mvsicce Avctores Septem, Amsterdam, 1652, p. 21.]

It remains to explain the methods used in Appendix B, which records
not only the scales of all the songs, but also the relative frefjnencies in
which the individual tones occur in each particular song. This plan was
evolved while the present editor was working on the music of the Ameri-
can Indians on the Pacific coast.-^ It aims to show the relative impor-
tance of each scale tone in any given melody, as well as the seemingly
endless variety which could be achieved with the same tonal material.
Such basic information might serve well for a later comparative study of
the songs of various nations, thereby showing their respective preferences
and tastes as well, perhaps, as relationships. This could also be extended
to the use of the various intervals.

The method of arriving at a means of measurement for determining
the frequency of the individual tones is simply this. Each tone, as often
as it occurs in the melody, is counted in values of sixteenths. The total
aggregate will then give the numerical frequency or weight of the tone
in relation to others.

Let one song taken at random from this Collection (No. 173) serve as  example to show the method used in ascertaining the 'weight' of the individual tones occurring in a melody and therefore a scale. The number

 

fe^===^E^EE^EEE;EEEg==:a

1 1 11 8 24 8 13 7 6 6

below each note gives the total numerical value of its frequency. There  are a number of other songs which have the very same or almost the same  tonal content, but what a difiference in the resultant melody — as may be  seen in a comparison of No. 173 with Nos. 229, 241, 256, 323, 409, and 512.  A scale is merely the raw building material; a mode is the architectural
design using that material. And as each mode has its characteristic  melodic progressions and idioms, a valuable study, space permitting, could  be made by examining the frequency as well as occurrences of the different possible progressions.

^'Cf. Jan P. Schinhan, "The Music of the Papago and Yurok," a dissertation
submitted to the Philosophical faculty of the University of Vienna, 1933. Now
in process of publication. Here the method of measuring the frequency is ex-
tended by means of a chart which gives the exact physical outline of each
melody, recording each progression according to its movement in time as well
as that with regard to pitch. Since horizontal as well as vertical lines are used,
both can serve for this purpose. The horizontals are divided in sixteenths of
an inch representing duration, the verticals in equal distances representing half-
steps. This is, of course, far more accurate than merely projecting the general
outline of a melody in a graph. The latter method is nothing new in itself,
having already been used by Madame E. Linev of Russian fame (1905), as well
as by AJiss Frances Densmore of this country and some other scholars. In 1933
I discussed this method with Joseph Schillinger of Teacher's College (Columbia
University), who seemed very much interested in it. It is perhaps regrettable
that, in his posthumously published work, his editors, evidently not informed,
gave credit to him for having evolved this method. Cf. The Schillinger System
of Composition, New York, 1946, p. xix.

2. Range.
The range in which the melodies of the ballads move varies
considerably. The most extended is a thirteenth or an octave and a sixth,
M^hich occurs in one song. The smallest range, that of a fourth, likewise
occurs only in one song. Numerically, the highest in frequency is the
range of an octave, with that of the ninth next in rank.^^ The idea ex-
pressed by several writers that a limited tonal range indicates the great
age of a song should be regarded with caution.

Among the various tables given in Appendix A will also be found an
account of the frequency of all the different tonal ranges. An interesting
comparison could be made with regard to the preferences shown in the
older ballads (mostly British) as against that to be found in the native
American and North Carolina ballads.

J. Melodic Line, or Interval Succession in Pitch. It is convenient to
speak of a melody as 'interval succession in pitch' and of meter as 'interval
succession in time' (see p. xix above), but these two factors should really
not be separated, as indeed they cannot be, for the reason that, when deal-
ing with Western music, no melody can be found which does not have the
characteristics of moving in 'measured time.' Nevertheless, for the pur-
pose of our analysis, they must be considered separately.

Melody is a succession or series of either conjunctly or disjunctly
ascending or descending tones which differ not only in pitch, but, owing
to their varying duration, also in time. It is not, however, a haphazard
series of unrelated sounds of varying pitch and duration, but a rhythmical
organism which consists of clearly defined accentual groups. "It is a
basic, primordial coherence and relationship evolved by the kinetic sense
of energy."25 *'The fundamental being of the creative mind is essentially  rhythmic. All great art which moves in time, springs direct from this  primal impulse. "^^ Melody then is the product of this impulse, its tones  varying in pitch and duration according to the basic law of unity in  variety, which underlies all expression. There is a theory that melody
evolved from the natural inflections of speech, since both have two constituents in common, pitch variation and rhythm. As a melody, however,  in contrast to what is called a motif or even a phrase, is a fully rounded  and balanced tonal structure, it would not be exactly correct to compare  it with a complete sentence or statement in language, but rather to such a
structure as we know by the term stanza or strophe. Melody is tonal  movement in time, but it "has to express a motion, in such a manner that  the hearer may easily, clearly, and certainly appreciate the character of  that motion by immediate perception."^'^ As Ernst Kurth puts it, "melody  is flowing power. The real basic content of a melodic line is the 'becom-
ing,' the onward urge which, through its inherent motion and propelling power, takes a particular form that can be perceived and felt. Melody is based on the energy which produces the coherence between the individual tones, combines them into larger groups, and rounds them out into the total imagery of the progression."

A survey of 203 English ballads contained in books I-VII of the Folk-Song Sight Singing Series published by Oxford University Press shows the  same preference for the octave and ninth as against all other intervals.

[footnotes: ^° Cf. Ernst Kurth, Grundlagen dcs Lincarcn Kontrapunbts, Berlin, 1922,
pp. 15-16.

^" Cf. Margaret H. Glyn, Theory of Musical Evolution, London, 1934, p. 2.

''' Helrnholtz, 5th ed., p. 252.]

Melody is a living thing, an organism,-^ which in given circumstances  may change in some ways without, however, losing its individuality or  inherent characteristics — as shown in the variations given below the music  score. There are, of course, cases like that of the so-called 'charactervariation,' where the listener sometimes is hard put to recognize the original idea, and the theorist to explain how such an idea could have sprung  from this original. This is not unlike what happens in the human family,
where the offspring are often very different from their progenitors. In  fact one might liken a melody to a community in which each individual  has its own dynamic force or drive, but which does not exist as an independent factor manifesting itself without regard to its surroundings. Each  member with his own individual qualities and characteristics brings something to the whole, is in a certain relationship to the whole, which, in each  case, is again governed and determined by the relative position the indi-
vidual occupies in the total structures. And the same is true of an individual tone in the community of what we call a melody. The quality  and character of a melodic line is determined not only by each individual  tone and its pitch, duration, and position — its dynamic or rhythmical  force — but by the varying relationships to the other tones which make  up the whole and especially to what is called tonal center.[29] And as in a  community, where a few outstanding individuals can shape and control the  activities of their fellows by the sheer force of their personalities, their  ideals, their integrity and character, so in a melody, tones will be found  which take on a dominant importance in comparison with some others  which, more or less, function as willing co-workers for the benefit of the  whole.

This very fact is the basic reason why the editor decided to tabulate  "his findings in Appendix A. In a brief introduction there is obviously  no room for an extended melodic study of each of the more than 1250  ballads and songs.^o This would be most interesting and bring out some   points which it is not possible to cover in a general survey. One of these,  and an important one, would be a discussion of the melodic progressions  with regard to their direction; for there is a great difference between a  progression used ascendingly or descendingly. — A very telling example,  one which is well known, is the beginning of "I know that my redeemer  liveth" from Handel's Messiah. Just take the ascending fourth (b'-e") and invert it to the descending fifth( b'-e'). The result? Nobody will give you credit for knowing much, and certainly not for being very sure about it.

["'Ernst Kurth has called it "the total or sum of a psychodynamic occurrence."

"' "The character of every melody is, in part, derived from the mode in which  it is cast" (EFSSC, p. 47).

*" See, however, the tables in Appendix A showing the numerical occurrences of the various interval-progressions for the beginnings as well as the  endings of all melodies, and also the characteristics of repeated tones and  ascending versus descending tendencies, and showing also whether the melodies  start with the up-beat or not.]

Another important point that must here be omitted concerns the cadential features of each melody. Cadences have a tendency to fall into a  more or less stereotyped pattern, either half or full cadences. There is  likewise a tendency to mitigate this sameness by varying the beginnings  of the melodies. And some airs refuse to conform, especially those that  end on a degree other than the tonal center. This phenomenon is frequently to be found in songs which come from Scotland,^^ but occurs also
in songs of other peoples like those of the Swiss.

"In European folk song it has frequently been noticed that the French  and Italians prefer narrow steps and ranges, as distinguished from the  northern races, English, Germans, etc."^^ Let us overlook the "narrow  steps," which no doubt should read "narrow intervals," and examine our  ballads with this statement in mind. Since the range of the tunes has  already been discussed, there are only the interval-progressions and other  melodic characteristics left to be considered here.

In 512 tunes, the preferred melodic progression by skips shows a ma-
jority of 701 as against that by steps. Likewise, there is a decided
favoritism shown towards beginning with the up-beat (322) as against
the down-beat (29), not including the 161 songs which begin with a re-
peated first tone. The latter, in 144 ballads, is repeated one or more times
followed by ascending progressions, while in only 37 it is followed by
descending motion. In all songs, the one-time repetition of the initial
tone is by far the most frequent. Next in frequency come the two- and
three-times repeated initial tone. It is interesting to observe that the
repetition of the first (161), as compared with that of the final tone (28),
stands in the ratio of only slightly higher than 2:1, if the last tones which
are anticipated (44) are also counted. It should be noted also that re-
peated tones other than the initial and final are quite frequent as well as
characteristic of most of the songs. Besides favoring a start with the
up-beat, the majority of the songs (226) begin with the fifth degree, with
the first degree next in frequency (182). With the exception of the
endings, the dominant factor in all progressions seems to be the ascending
motion. The ratio between ascending versus descending movements is
almost 4:1. Of all the 512 ballads, 415 end on the strong beat, which, in
343 cases, is arrived at descendingly.

In discussions of Western music the term climax refers to the highest  tone occurring in the piece. Normally, and certainly in shorter composi-tions, this climactic tone should occur but once and is usually found on the
accented beat. But this is almost never true in folk song. Such a climax
has definitely something of a dramatic character, and that is possibly the
very reason why the folk singer, having an objective point of view, does
not use it. It would be incorrect, however, to assume that there are no  culmination points within the individual phrases, but the latter being very
frequently repeated (in 340 tunes), any climax in our sense of the word
is prevented. The reason for these frequent repetitions can easily be seen
when one realizes that there must be some means of achieving unity. In
some songs having the abed and similar patterns, the unit, besides some
small similarities, will have to be brought about by the story. This is a
similar problem to that faced by a composer when writing a motet or
madrigal. The climax (not repeated) somewhere near the middle of the
song occurs in loi ballads. More details regarding all these points will
also be found in Appendix A,

 

[ above- *^ Cf. William Dauney, Ancient Scotish Melodies, Edinburgh, 1838, p. 321 ;  also Margaret Glyn, Theory of Musical Evolution, London, 1934, p. 152.

^^ Harvard Dictionary, p. 437.]

As was the case in our discussion of the modes, it is unfortunately
necessary here to deplore the careless or inexpert language of certain
editors. Phillips Barry, for example, says that "Scots singers have a
liking for melodies cast in the so-called gapped scales, having but five or
six tones, ... as well as for melodic progressions admitting the skip of a
full octave, or even of a larger interval." He cites 'The Trooper and the
Maid' as musical illustration and continues: "Such structural peculiari-
ties, as well as the Irish cadence, that is, the twice repeated iteration of the
closing note of a melody, are of the class of musical archaisms."^^ Since
when has a melodic interval been a structural peculiarity? Certainly,
specific intervals, for example the fourth, can by repeated occurrences
become melodic peculiarities of a structure, but they do not constitute
either a structure or a structural peculiarity. As for the "melodic pro-
gressions admitting the skip of a full octave," one need only refer to Cecil
Sharp: "The interval of the octave is a common one in folk-airs of all
countries."34 And what should one say about the tautology "twice re-
peated iteration of the closing note of a melody"? The very example
cited shows the final tone repeated but once !

For another example, take this from Horace Beck: ". . . the tune
varies slightly throughout the song to fit the words in the various stanzas.
This would indicate perhaps that it is not the original tune."35 Such a
deduction would be equivalent to saying that, inasmuch as the second
stanza of 'The Flying Cloud' does not conform in its third line to the
metrical pattern used in the first stanza, therefore it cannot be the original
poem. The reasoning is specious. In the first place, where and what is
the original tune? In folk music, which is forever in flux, there is no
original ; there can only be a better or less good version, musically speak-
ing. And the judgment about this is usually that of the people who either
do or do not sing the melodies and thus preserve them for later times.

4. Meter, or Interval Succession in Time. Neither in purely monophonic
music like Plain Chant ("a single melodic line without any additional
parts or accompaniment" )36 nor in the music of our own day has there
ever been a melody without rhythm. But, as in Plain Chant, the melodies

'' BBM, p. xxiii.

11 EFSSC, p. 83.

='' Horace P. Beck, "The Riddle of 'The Flying Cloud,'" JAFL lxvi (iQi;^)
123-33; 130. , J K yojy,

^^ Harvard Dictionary, p. 455.

 

XXxil INTRODUCTION

of the troubadours, the Minnesingers and Mastersingers, there was, and
in the Orient still is, music without meter.

One thing is certain, however : rhythm is not meter, nor is the term
meter a substitute for rhythm.^''^

In poetry as in music we have two distinct types of accentuation, the
rhythmical and the metrical. The opening lines of Milton's Paradise Lost
are in the familiar five- foot iambic meter, but no intelligent person would
ever think of reading them accordingly, because, in doing so, he would
improperly emphasize the metrical accents at the expense of both the
natural rhythm and the normal stress of the words. Likewise, in music
anyone following the general belief that each first beat in any measure
must receive an accent, will not only prove that he does not understand
the music, but will at the same time deprive any listener of the possibility
of grasping the musical idea expressed by the composer. Yet, although
you may not hear the meter in the poetry nor the meter in the music, the
metrical scheme is always present. Sometimes the rhythmical and the
metrical accents will coincide; at other times they may differ. The right
balance between them has been defined "as any organized and intelligible
relationship between the individual items of a series of sounds or motions,
such relationship being organized with respect to emphasis and duration.
No repetition of a set pattern is implied. "^^

What we must realize, then, is that in music as in poetry there is a
double system of accentuation. We must also realize that the barline in
music is merely a convenience to the eye with a purely metrical signifi-
cance but with no control whatever over the rhythmical accent. But
whereas in verse the syllables and feet vary considerably in length or
duration, in music, the quantitative relationships between whole, half,
quarter, and eighth notes, etc., are mathematically exact. Therefore, a
longer note value, preceded and followed by shorter values, is very likely
to draw attention to itself and thus to be felt as the accentual center of
the group.

In poetry or rhythmic prose there may be divergence of opinion with
regard to stress or the lack of it, just as there is, in the field of music, in
the singing of Plain Chant. But in any concerted rendition of either it is
necessary to come to an agreement, and this is most naturally reached on
the basis of the text. Only in the development of polyphonic music, with
several independent melodic lines, did the situation change. When there
was a concerted effort of several people singing different melodic lines,
there arose the consequent necessity of keeping them together. Then meas-
ured music came into being. Whether we observe the stamping of feet
or clapping of hands in contemporary popular entertainment or that of
so-called primitive societies, not to mention the drums heard in both, the
use of the same means is evident, as it likewise is in the hep-two-three-
four of more recent times. The performance of concerted music is pos-

^^ It should go without saying that meter and rhythm are not the same thing.
Cf. Aurelius Augustinus, Mitsik, transl. by Carl Johann Perl, Strassburg, 1937,
p. 167: "By which rhythm, meter and verse differ."

^* Calvin S. Brown, Music and Literature, Athens, Georgia, [1948!, P- i5-

 

INTRODUCTION XXXlll

sible only by the strict observance of these time-proportions, whatever
they may be.

"The reaHzation of rhythmic progression is the natural appreciation
of the principle of periodicity which is inherent in the very constitution
of the human mind. It is the perception of equality in duration of con-
secutive mental states. "^^ According- to the general law of response to a
stimulus, every impression, in extent and character, sets up a similar and
proportionate movement which tends to recur and keep on doing so.'**' A
periodic succession is felt "as progression in cycles (weak-strong, or
strong- weak)." "If a long series of quarternotes were played with abso-
lute uniformity in time and stress, the listener would inevitably hear the
appropriate notes accented. Such is one of nature's beneficent illusions."^^
A single act of attention which embraces the whole group (feeling of
unit), involves the apprehension of this duality: positive — and negative.
"An object that does not change cannot be attended to for more than a
few seconds."^^ This is due to the fact that attention is discontinuous
and intermittent. Through varying the renewal of the act of attention,
"undifferentiated sounds can be thought into a variety of rhythms." But,
since "the feeling of regular accent is in strict relation to the points at
which there is a purposeful renewal of the act of attention,"*^ it should
be evident that, when this renewal is carried on regularly, it will give
rise to the feeling of meter.

One thing, however, should be kept in mind, namely, that all this "re-
newal of the act of attention" as well as the feeling of meter is purely an
activity of mind. The Greek philosopher Demokritus twenty-three cen-
turies ago said : "Sweet and bitter, cold and warm as well as all the colors,
all these things exist but in opinion and not in reality ; what really exists,
are unchangeable particles, atoms, and their motion in space." Bishop
Berkeley of more recent times expressed similar ideas. The sixteenth-
century mathematician Galileo was perfectly aware of this and Leibniz,
the great German mathematician, said that he was able to prove that all
these things "were mere apparent qualities." Our own great contemporary
Albert Einstein included even space and time as forms of intuition. Ac-
cording to him, the only objective reality of space is the order, grouping,
or arrangement of the objects in space, and that of time likewise in the
order of events by which we measure it.

Thus, meter first came into music when it was found necessary in con-
certed music to make sure that the different 'events' as represented by
the individual lines of a polyphonic composition would occur in their
proper 'order.' Meter was and still is a mere convenience which, on one
hand, enables the composer to convey, at least approximately, his ideas and
intentions, and on the other, makes it possible for the performer to arrive
at an understanding of the music, and thereby to realize the intentions of

[*" John B. McEwen, The Thought in Music, London, 1912, p. 9.
*" Ibid., p. 10.

"^ Carl E. Seashore, "The Sense of Rhythm as a Musical Talent," Musical
Quarterly, iv (1918), 507-15.

*" E. W. Scripture, The New Psychology, London, 1905, p. 179.
** McEwen, pp. 15, 14.]

 the composer. Rhythm always was first and meter second. It is there-
fore senseless to state in a definition of meter that it "serves as a skeleton
for the rhythm."'** Meter is the constant basic unit of measurement which,
in its various forms and combinations, serves to delineate movement in
time. As in our ordinary use of numbers, this basic unit can be subdivided
into its smaller constituents as well as fused with others into a larger
whole. But one must strongly protest against such misleading as well as
erroneous statements as "that % 'rhythm' may be duple as well as triple in
character, and that % may be both, or may be only triple. "^^ The confu-
sion comes from the mistaken idea that six eighth-notes in % are the same
as six eighth-notes in % time. There is a decided difference between the
latter and what is called a divided triplet. Two dotted quarters, which in
both cases look alike, in % imply a syncopated effect; in % they certainly
do not.

In Appendix A are listed all the varied types of meter that occur in
the tunes of the ballads in this volume.

5. Structure or Gestalt : Over-all Rhythm. It should be quite clear that,
if a definite way of measuring is predetermined, there must first be
something to be measured, that is, something that can be subdivided into
the smallest unit of the measuring device. In music, this something to be
measured is a melody, a progression of tones varying not only in pitch,
but also in relative time values. This something or the totality of this
something may be called structure, Gestalt, or over-all rhythm.

St. Augustine, when discussing the role of reason, said: "First it
followed its own feelings and formed structures with proportions and
divisions. According to its judgment, it delimited these forms and so
created verse. What, however, did not conform to these limits but was
nevertheless built of reasonably ordered values, it termed rhythm."*^ Both
Remigius d'Auxerre*"^ and Martianus Capella^^ define rhythm as a com-
bination of sounds which are connected in a well-ordered mutual relation-
ship. Quintilian says: The Greeks named rhythm the masculine element;
and he continues, "without rhythm, the melody is without life and form,
similar to any matter that can assume the most varied forms. The
rhythm gives life to it and moves it in a well-ordered manner. It is the
active element which creates ; the melody is the passive element which
manifests the creation."*^

Rhythm then is the primordial, creative, emotional force which mani-
fests itself under the control and guidance of logic. Rhythm closely unites
a series of heterogeneous but balanced values and impresses upon that
entity a distinct character. To quote Mathis Lussi : "Rhythm is the

** Harvard Dictionary, p. 442.

*'^ George Herzog, Folktunes from Mississippi, National Play Bureau, No. 25,
Works Progress Administration, New York City, 1937.

*" Cf. Aurelius Augustinus, De Ordinc, pp. 12-15.

" Cf. Remigius d'Auxerre, De Rhythmns, p. 80.

** Cf. Martianus Capella, De Nttptiis Philologiae et Mcsurii, Cambridge,
Mass., 1939, p. 190.

** Cf. Quintilian, De Musica, ed. Meibom, p. 43.

 

INTRODUCTION XXXV

moving, driving principle through which music becomes understandable
for us. It is rhythm which transforms a series of tones otherwise not
logically connected into an aesthetic whole. Thus is formed a musical idea,
an understandable element, and thereby a series of tones is removed from'
a purely sensory realm into that of understanding: rhythm lifts music
into the sphere of spirit."50 George Coleman Gow has so aptly described
rhythm "as psychologically the apotheosis of the act of attention,— atten-
tion at its greatest tension."^!

So we find rhythm is the Gestalt which an idea assumes in the mind
when it finds its most complete and perfect expression. And Gestalt has
form, outline, strength, beauty, character, and an inherent motion. In
music we perceive rhythm as events or movements in time, the character
of which is determined by the variable succession of its component homo-
geneous or heterogeneous parts. But, although rhythm occurs in time, it
is not subject to time. Nevertheless, "the forever Now" shares the same
fate as rhythm. As the latter without a succession of events is unthink-
able, so time, the Tiavxa get of Heraclitus and the "all is in flux" of Berg-
son, is divided into larger or smaller units which through their numerical
relationships convey a given idea in understandable terms. The total unit
then is what is meant here by structure, Gestalt, or over-all rhythm. And
each musical idea, according to its nature, will take on its own individual
form — as can readily be seen from the tables in Appendix A.

To give an idea of this Gestalt or over-all rhythm of the various
melodies, the build-up of each is given in detail, broken down into its
smaller parts which together make up the whole. Inasmuch as most of the
melodies contained in this Collection are of very small dimensions, the
individual parts will necessarily be equally circumscribed. Nevertheless,
the germinal idea which, in later periods, found its fruition in forms of
considerable proportions, is unmistakably present. The analysis of the
individual melodies will show an astounding wealth of imagination and
resourcefulness as well as prove that, with all of that, old and tried friends
are not forsaken. An interesting phenomenon should be noted, namely
that the different versions of a song, though melodically often greatly
varied, in most cases adhere to the identical structure of the other related
tunes.

It is only natural that, among all the ballads presented here, there
should be forms which are familiar to everyone who is informed about
folk song. The common strophic form aa^ (variation form), with all its
different combinations, accounts for 155 tunes. The next in frequency is
another strophic favorite, ab, which almost reaches the hundred mark.
In addition, 107 songs use 29 dift'erent combinations of this basic tonal
material. In many cases, this fundamental form is broken down into its
smaller constituents between some of which one can frequently observe
a more or less close relationship. From these smaller subdivisions, given
in almost every case, it will be easy to ascertain all the relevant details

^"Mathis Lussi, "The Correlation between Meter and Rhythm," VierteU
jahrschnft fiir Musikzvissenschaft, i (1885), 141-3.

""Rhythm; The Life of Music," Musical Quarterly, i (1915), 637.

 

XXXVl INTRODUCTION

which could not be seen from an analysis taking- larger units as structural
parts of the whole, like ab. This more detailed analysis shows that, while
a goodly number of songs partake of this basic material, they do, to some
degree, differ from their close relatives, a fact which is equally borne out
by other basic patterns like abc, abed, abcde, etc.

The simple pattern abed, which Cecil Sharp instances to show that the
makers of English folk-tunes "more frequently squander their ideas than
husband them,"^- is represented by 60 tunes, not counting a few occur-
rences of abcdd, etc. Two types of structure that go back to early medi-
aeval times are the patterns aab, baa, and aaba. The former, Alfred Lorenz
calls "barform and inverted barform," the latter "Reprisenbar."^^ There
are 29 examples of barforms and 36 of "Reprisenbar." One lone survival
of a structure which had its ancestral home in Provence and its "canzo,"
as well as in some songs of the Minnesingers and Mastersingers,^^ is found
in the 'Riddle Song' (No. 34 of this Collection) ababcb = 1 1 : a -f- x: 1 1 -|-
(b + x). The form aba, which Robert O. Morris^^ declared he never
found in English folk songs, occurs six times. To be sure, we must not
think here of the fully grown three-part song form. In addition, there
are many forms of very low frequency, among them, the lowest, one
occurrence only. This happens to be the case in 48 songs, each of which
presents its individual variation in the use of otherwise basic material.

Besides variety, there is always the important factor of unity, and it
is enlightening to see how the uninstructed mind handles this problem in a
masterly even though unconscious manner. The solution is achieved by
repetition of some parts of the melody in the total structure. Although
Cecil Sharp says that "The frequent iteration of one short phrase cannot
be said to be so characteristic of the English folk-tune as it undoubtedly
is of the French folk-air,"^^ it appears nevertheless quite frequently in
the tunes of this Collection, especially in the various combinations result-
ing from such basic material as the simple aa and ab. It is quite likely,
however, that Cecil Sharp had in mind a motif when he said "short
phrase." In that case, his statement would also hold true for our songs.

In Appendix A will be found three different tables dealing with the
forms as found in the 512 ballads of the present volume. One table shows
the total of each basic material comprising not only the latter, but all its
varied combinations. The second shows the most frequent structural com-
binations, and the third all the varied groupings of otherwise basic ma-
terial as they were found in the study of all the ballads.

6. Rendition. Not much need be added to what Cecil Sharp has previously

^^ EFSSC, pp. 76-77: "It is mostly the text which gives unity to the hetero-
geneous material."

*^ Alfred Lorenz, pp. 191-2. Friedrich Gennrich calls this last form a
"rounded chanson" {Rundkansone) — Grundriss einer Formcnlehre des mittel-
alterlichen Liedes, Halle (Saale), 1931, p. 245.

°* Harvard Dictionary, pp. 74 f.

^^ R. O. Morris, The Structure of Music, London, 1935, p. 8.

*• EFSSC, p. 76.

 

INTRODUCTION XXXVIl

said about mountain singers and their manner of performance.^'^ The
extensive repertory of these untutored people who owe their knowledge
to their earlier association with older people who handed down to them
what they in turn had inherited from their predecessors, is astounding.
Besides many mountain singers, this editor has known several old Indians,
each of whom could sing several hundred songs without any effort. There
were, however, a number of the former as well as the latter who were
not willing to have their songs taken down in any form whatever.

The manner of singing is quite well known. The mountain singer, in
contrast to some so-called folk singers on the concert platform, forgets
about himself and sings the story, without actually being affected by any
of the less agreeable details. In many cases the tone quality is quite nasal
and the articulation of the words pure wishful thinking.^^ There are ex-
ceptions, of course, and some of the singers, besides having an excellent
natural voice, have a native ability to tell a story in song which would
put many of the would-be artists to shame.

Some of the singers, while succumbing to the general manner of sing-
ing their songs on a rather high pitch level, find themselves confronted by
the human limitations we all share. It is then quite possible to hear them,
sometimes in the middle of a phrase, adjust this uncomfortable situation
by simply transposing (unconsciously, of course) the remainder of the
song to a lower key. It is quite an achievement. But it may have an un-
fortunate aspect ; for if there is no second stanza available in the record-
ing, the person trying to transcribe the song is hard put to arrive at a
correct answer.

While it generally holds true that the folk singer, if recalling the tune,
will readily be able to proceed with the words, and vice versa, there are a
few cases to be found in this Collection in which the singer did recall the
tune, but in place of the words, had to have recourse to nonsense-syllables,
like la-la-la. As so many people while singing hymns will for various
reasons not observe the true value of the notes, especially those of longer
duration, so the mountain singers will, without hesitation, shorten time
values, especially at the end of phrases. This results many times in rather
irrational structures. ^^

Finally, it is interesting to observe the subtle variations which occur
in the rendering of the several stanzas of a ballad or song. It is in these
variations that the unlearned and unsophisticated art of the folk singer
shows itself. With sovereign mastery, difiiculties in accommodating dif-
ferent metric values of the text to the same tune are overcome. As in
so-called art music, there are masters as well as those who "also run," but
the product will always and unmistakably show with which one is dealing.
And the same may be said with reference to the singing also.

" EFSSC, chap, ix, pp. 104-18.

^* The editor, while transcribing the records of this Collection, has often
wished that the singers had lived up to the statement of Cecil Sharp (EFSSC,
p. 109), with regard to the attitude of the singers toward the words.

" Cf. EFSSC, p. 79.

 

XXXVIU INTRODUCTION

Conclusion

This ends the discussion of the different approaches to an analytical
study of folk song as presented in the following pages. It is, however,
well to remember that, with all the value any analysis can and does have,
neither this nor any other process will uncover the alchemy of the creative
act in music or in any of the other arts, any more than it will demonstrate
why of the thousands of leaves on an oak tree, none are ever exactly
alike, nor why two roses growing on the same bush will graciously display
their individual charm and beauty. If nothing else, though, such analysis
may show forth the unending, inexhaustible creative power manifest
throughout the universe.

INDEX OF SINGERS (From Volume IV)

The numbers refer to the tunes

Allen, Gertrude see Vaught Banks, Mrs. L. F. 292, 412

Barbour, Mary 364

Barnes, M. T. 233

Barnes, Mrs. R. E. 193

Barnette, Myra see Miller, Mrs. J. J.

Barnett, Mrs. O. D. 359

Barker, Horton 20, 31, 34, 52, 169,

244, 360, 490, 503, 507

Bascom, Mrs. Louise Rand 417, 439

Beaker, H. J. 97, 157, 370, 436

Belvin, Jennie 347

Black, Ruth 376

Blackstock, Mrs. Vivian 240, (322)

Bostic, Mrs. G. L. 62, 92, 145, 200, 245, 281, 307, 373, 424, 498

Bray, Cleophas, mother of 123

Brown, Mrs. 48, 56

Buchanan, H. R. 98

Buchanan, Mrs. H. R. 295, 476

Buchanan, Mrs. Silas 386

Burleson, Ethel 366

Burrus, Rev. A. J. 488

Byers, Mrs. N. T. 24, 131, 227, 271, 361, 429

Chamberlain, Mrs. Ervilla 186

Christenbury, Jane 428

Church, Mrs. J. 8, 80, 106, 128, 170, 198, 467

Church, Lloyd 70
Church, Mrs. Minnie 323, 398
Church, Steve 117, 422, 515
Church, Y. F. 261
Clarke, Eugenia 314, 338
Cofifey, O. L. 411
Cooke, Mrs. Alice 47, 491
Cox, Jeanette 501

Day, Ethel 387
Bellinger, Hestabel 454
Dobson, Mattie 183
Dunnegan, Lucy 430, 485

Eggers, H. 84, 489
Eggers, H. R. 252
Eggers, Mrs. Sallie 105

Elliott, Austin E. 332

Ericson, Dr. E. E. 353

Faucette, C. F. 460

Faulkner, S. T. 287

Frisbie, Zilpah 329, 432, 462

Frye, Pat 19, 153, 229

Fulton, M. G. 322

Gordon, Mrs. Rebecca (Aunt Becky)  4, 23, 29, 53, 125, 147, 194, 253

Graybeal, Estalena 328

Green, Mrs. A. L 481

Green, Mrs. B. 212, 262, 516

Greene, Earliana 381

Greer, Dr. L G. 9, 45, 77,, 74, 79. 95  (?), 132, 133, 148, 176, 189, 202,  325, 237, 340, 343, 344, 346, 380, 388,  396, 408, 433, 475, 483, 494

Grogan, Fannie 46, 318, 320, 434

Grogan, Mrs. Julia 127, 248, 265

Hageman, Susie 372

Hampton, Belvia 114, 118

Hanford, Mrs. Henry S. 65

Hardin, Addie 206, 495

Harrison, Blake B. 435

Hauser, Jessie 151, 375

Hayman, Mrs. L. D. 465

Hayman, Rev. L. D. 226, 426

Henderson, Amy 371, 397

Herring, Mrs. N. J. 377

Hicks, Addie 35

Hicks, Mrs. Calvin 122

Hicks, Nathan 207

Hicks, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan 85, 102

Hicks, Mrs. Nora 7, 35, 41, 55, 66, 75,

81, 107, 126, 144, 174, 219, 231, 268,

^77, 311, 399, 508
Holder, D. E. 43, 104
Holeman, Jean 116, 301, 438, 502, 509
Holton, Aura 413
Houck, C. B. 421
Houston, 'Granny' 22
Hughes, Mrs. Arizona 185

Icenham, Mrs. Rebecca 148
Isenhour, Mrs. 350

 

404

 

INDEX OF SINGERS

 

Johnson, Mrs. Anna 12, 21
Johnson, J. D. Jr. 446
Johnson, Margaret, mother of 124
Johnson, Obadiah 33, 441

Knox, Carl G. 382

Kuykendall, Otis S. 18, 63, 96, 158,
2i4> 293, 327, 351, 409, 416, 443, 452

Lineberger, Nancy 468

Lomax, J. A. 512

Love, Will 415, 469

Lunsford, Bascom Lamar 335, 348,

418, 419, 423, 444, 448, 449, 455, 477,

493, 514

xVlcCauley, Clara J. 37

McNeill, Hattie 6, 143, 255, 298, 480

Martin, H. C. 393

Matthews, Laura 357

Maxwell, Nancy 109

Michael, Chloe 149

Miller, Mrs. James 269

Miller, Mrs. J. J. (Myra Barnett) 3,
15, 28, 44, 51, 61, 134, 146, 155, 177,
178, 192, 238, 239, 247, 284, 286, 306,
369, 391, 393, 410, 478, 479

Miller, Ruth 356

Minish, Pearl 392

Moody, Mrs. Birdie May 445

Nichols, Madge 60
Nichols, Penelope 363
Norris, Mrs. E. J. 442
Norton, Mrs. Fannie 2

Palmer, Mrs. L. H. 58, 67

Perdue, Mrs. C. P. (Jewell Robbins)

30, 190, 210, 217, 273, 300, 313, 333,

349, 384, 406, 407, 431, 453, 463, 464,

472
Perry, Mrs. Peggy 130, 181, 237, 315
Pittman brothers 86
Poovey, W. E. 395
Powles, Joe 366
Prather, Mrs. Nancy 14, 27, 82, in, 136, 249
Price, Alex 450
Pridgen, Mrs. W. L. 331

Proffitt, Frank 90, 101, 113, 119, 138, 163, 166, 207

Pruitt, Doyle 352

Rawn, Isabelle 379
Rayfield, Mrs. Ada 165

Rayfield, Mrs. Polly 247
Reavis, B. C. 205, 403
Rives, Mrs. 437
Robbins, Jewell see Perdue
Robinson, Mrs. R. A. 482
Russell, Katie S. 342, 414

Sanders, Mrs. Eliza 474

Saunders, Millie 159, 341

Smith, Bennett 76

Smith, C. H. 459

Smith, Mrs. Emma no

Smith, Thomas 72, 154

Smith, W. O. 466

Spainhour, J. F. 263

Stamey, Mrs. Ephraim 54, 129, 222,

257, 454, 505
Strawbridge, Mary 260, 336, 497
Sutton, Mrs. Maude Minish 16

Tarwater, Becky 99

Thomas, Mrs. 254

Tillett, C. K. 49, 150, 179, 180, 182,  230, 232, 235, 241, 246, 256, 264, 266.  275, 279, 280, 282, 283, 289, 291, 297,  299, 302, 303, 304, 309, 316, 317, 319,  321, 330, 383, 385, 390, 404, 440, 451,  456, 457, 499, 500

Tillett, Mrs. C. K. 91, 405

Timmons, Mrs. Laura B. 87, 168, 171,  362

Todd, Eula 368

Trivette, Mrs. J. 39, 88, 201, 243

Tugman, Alexander 228, 355

Turbyfield, Mrs. Mildred Perry 420

Vaught, Mrs. R. C. 203, 496

Wagoner, Lura 274, 365

Walker, Edith 77, 167, 184, 209, 225

Walker, Elizabeth 374

Walter, Mrs. 115

W'allon, Beulah 324, 492

Warf, Lena 427, 461

Watson, ]Mrs. G. 187

Weaver, Lizzie Lee 215

Weaver, Lura 434, 511

Webb, Pearle 26, 108, 120, 141, 142, 160, 161, 196, 326, 334, 367, 394

White, N. L 358, 447

Wilson, Ada 250

Wilson, Mrs. Ewart 69, 162, 258, 272, 354, 458, 484

Wilson, Ida 42 York, Mrs. James 1, 5, 59, 78, 121,

Wilson, Mrs. Rhoda 312 135, 139, 140, 152, 172, 175, 197, 213,

Wiseman, Bonnie and Lola 345 216, 234, 242, 288, 308, 310, 504, 513

Wiseman, Mrs. Manassa 100
 

York, James 38, 89, 103, 164, 236, 270 389, 506
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

INDEX OF TITLES AND VARIANT TITLES

Editor's titles are shown in italics. Numbers following semicolon refer to  pages.

Annie Lee 143; 212
Annie, My Darling 250R ; 292
Arrow Goodman 42B B(i) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6); 104 fif.
As He Rode Up to the Old Man's Gate 3D D(i); 11 f.
As I Walked Out One Morning 131; 210
Asheville Junction 270H ; 301
Awake, Arise 71 A; 147

Banks of Sweet Dundee, The 323 ; 341
Barbara Allen 27A A(i) (2) (3) (4)(5)(6)BEGOS(i)V FF GG II;57 ff-
Barbary Allen 27S ; 64
Barb'ry Allen 27HH ; 68
Barney McCoy 113; 202
Battleship Maine 236A ; 277
Battleship Maine, The 236B ; 278
Battleship Maine, The (II) 236; 277
Beaulampkins 29A A(i) (2) ; 74 ff.
Big Sheep 176C; 235
Bill Miller's Trip to the West 268 ; 297
Billy Grimes 193AFI; 248 ff.
Billy Grimes the Drover 193 ; 248
Black-Eyed Davy 37D D(i) ; 86 f.
Black-Eyed Susan 104N ; 189
Black Jack David 37AB B(i)E E(i)HI ; 84 f., 87 f., 90
Blind Child, The 149K; 219
Blind Child's Prayer, The 149D ; 219
Blind Girl, The 149; 218
Blind Girl's Prayer 149A; 218
Bloody Miller, The 65B ; 142
Bo Lamkin 29B ; 76
Bold Privateer, The 322; 340
Bold Robing 33 ; 81
Bold Soldier, The 86D ; 160
Bone Part 146B ; 214
Bonnie Blade, The 183B; 242
Bonny Barbara Allan 27 ; 57
Bonny Earl of Murray, The 36 ; 83
Boston Burglar, The 242E ; 281
Brady 248 ; 287
Bramble Briar, The 62; 135
Brave Irish Lady, A 90; 166
British Lady, The 99E ; 184
Broken Engagement, The 155B B(i);227 f.
Broken Heart, The 157A; 229
Broken Ties 156B; 229
Brown Girl, The 19J ; 35
Bugle Boy, The 49 49(1) ; 125 f.
Burglar Man, The 192; 247
Butcher Boy, The 81 ; 155

Cabin Boy 47D ; 123
Cambric Shirt, The lA; 3
Captain, I'm Drivin' 270G; 301
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship 12;25
Caroline of Eddingburg Town 124B ;207
Caroline of Edinburgh Toxvn 124; 207
Charles Guiteau 249G ; 288 f.
Charlie and Bessie 71B; 148
Charlie and Mary 112B; 201
Charlie Brooks 320BC; 338
Charming Beauty Bright 88D ; 162, 165
Charming Nancy loiBC; 186
Child Riddles 316 ; 331
Claud Allen 246B ; 286
Claude Allen 246C; 286
Cock Robin 315; 330
Colony Times 188B ; 246
Come All Ye Girls from Adam's Race167E; 231
Come and I Will Sing You 50B ; 127
Common Bill 195 ; 252
Crafty Farmer, The 46; 119
Cruel Brother, The 5 ; 18

Dandoo 44C; 113
Danyou 44A ; 113
Darby's Ram 176B; 234
Dark-Eyed Sailor, A 9sA ; 180
Dark-Eyed Sailor, The 95; 180
Dear Annie 321 ; 339
Dear Annie: I Left My Love in Eng-
land 321 ; 339
Dear Nell 320A ; 336
Dear Son 7B ; 23

Death of Emma Hartsell 296A; 320
Derby Ram, The 176; 233
Destruction of the Titanic 287B ; 314
Devilish Mary 326 ; 343
Dilly Song, The 50; 126
Ditch of Briars, The 62C; 136
Dives and Lasarus I 54; 132
Dog and Gun 197 ; 256
Don't Forget Me, Little Darling 163; Frankie Silvers 30iA(i) ; 322 407 230
Down in a Lone Valley 250L ; 291
Down in the Willow Garden 67B B(i) ; 146
Driver Boy, The 79A A(i) ; IS3 i-
Drowsy Sleeper, The 71 ; i47
Dublin Bay 324 ; 342
Dumb Wife, The 1836(1); 242
Dying Cowboy, The 263C ; 296
Dying Girl's Message, The 318AB;333 f-
Dying Lovers, The 72B ; 149
Dying Nun, The 317; 333
Dying Soldier to His Mother, The228; 273

Earl Brand 3; 8
Earl of Moray, The 36; 83

Early, Early in the Spring 87 A; 160

Early in the Spring 87B ; 161

Edivard 7C; 23

Edward Lewis 291 ; 319

Egyptian Davy O, The 37C ; 85

Elfin Knight, The i ; 3

Ella's Grave 319; 335
Ellen Smith 305AE; 326 f.
Emma Hartsell 296 ; 320

Fair Margaret and Sweet William20HI ; 40, 42
Faithful Sailor Boy, The iii; 199
Farmer's Curst Wife 45 45(3); 116,119
Farmer's Curst Wife, The 45 45(i) 116 f.
Farmer's Wife, The 45(2) ; 118
Fatal Wedding, The 272 272(1) (2);303 f-
Father, Father, I Am Married 199;258
F.F.V., The 339; 356
F.F.V. The Wreck of No. 4, The 339;356
First Girl I Courted, The 88AC ; 162,165
Florella (The Jealous Lover) 250;289
Florence C. McGee, The 286; 313
Florilla 250D ; 291
Fond Affection 153E; 222 f.
Fond Devotion 153H ; 224
Fond of Affection 153F; 223
Forsaken Lover, The 104M ; 189
Forsaken Lovers, The 81N; 156
Francis Silver 301 A; 322
Francis Silver's Confession 301 B; 323
Frankie and Albert 251 ; 293
Frankie and Johnnie 251DK; 293 f.
Frankie Silver 301 ; 322

 

Gallows Tree, The 30CR ; 77, 81
Gay Young Sailor 92 A A(i) ; 169
Geordie 38 38(1) (2) (3) ; 9i ff-
George Collins 28B B(i) (2)DE E(i)
(2)G; 69 ff.
Georgie 38 38(4); 9i. 94
Get Up and Bar the Door 43B; 112
Girl I Left Behind, The 145EF; 213 f.
Girl Volunteer, The 100; 184
Give My Love to Nell, O Jack 274B; 307
Glove, The 89 ; 166
Go and Leave Me If You Wish To 153N ; 224
God Moved on the Water 287H ; 317
Golden Glove, The 197 A; 256
Golden Willow Tree, The 47B ; 121
Good Woman 80B ; 154
Gosport Tragedy, The 64; 137
Grandma's Advice 194CF; 250 f.
Great Granddad 266 ; 297
Great Sheep, The 176A; 233
Great Titanic, The 287 D ; 315
Green Beds 108; 191
Gypsy Davy, The 37F ; 88
Gypsy Laddie 37G(i) ; 89
Gypsy Laddie, The 37 ; 84

Hamlet Wreck, The 290; 318
Hangman, Hangman 30N ; 78
Hangman's Song 300; 79
Hangman's Tree 300; 80
Hard of Hearing 187; 245
He Courted Her in the Month of June3'27\ 345
He Done Her Wrong 251 J ; 294
High Barbary 118; 203
Holly Twig, The 184; 243
Homesick Boy 170A; 232
Jlomesick Boy, The 170 ; 232
House Carpenter, The 4oA(i)(2)BCEHJL; 96 ff.
House Carpenter's Wife, The 40D ; 99
How Old Are You, My Pretty LittleMiss? 37G; 89
Huxter's Bold Crew 119; 204

I Dreamed Last Night of My TrueLove 84; 157
I Gave My Love a Cherry 12B ; 26
I Wish I Were a Little Bird 170B ; 233
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In 53; 131
Indian Mohee iioF; 196
In Jefferson City 81 A; 155
Irish Girl, The 131 ; 210
Isle of St. Helena, The 146 ; 214; 408
It Is Sinful to Flirt 275B ; 310
It Rained a Mist 34B ; 82
It Was Early 87C; 161
It's Bloody War 239C; 279

Jack and Joe 274DK ; 307 f.
Jack Munro 99; 182
Jack O'Haseldean 2>2>3\ 352
Jacky, the Sailor Boy 99A ; 182
James Bird 221 ; 272
James Byrd 221 ; 272
James Harris (The Daemon Lover)40; 95
Jealous Lover 25oA(i)S; 290 flf.
Jealous Lover, The 250ACX ; 289 ff.,293
Jesse James 243BH ; 282 f.
Jewish Lady, The 34D ; 83
Jimmy and Nancy 61 ; 134
Jimmy Caldwell 331 ; 350
Joe Bowers 258 ; 295
John Hardy 244C ; 284
John Henry 270A A ( i ) EJ ; 298 f., 302
Johnie Henry 270C ; 300
Johnny German 94B ; 179
Johnny Randall 6B(2) ; 21
Johnny Sands 181 B; 239
John Reilley 93 ; 178
John Reilly 93(1) ; 179

Kenny Wagner's Surrender 245 ; 285
Kenny Wagoner 245 ; 285
Kind Wife 42 A A(i) ; 103
Kinadom Coming 2^2 ; 275
Kitty Clyde 198B ; 257
Knoxville Girl, The 65G ; 143

Lady Alice 28O ; 69, 74

Lady Gay 25E(i) ; 51

Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 2 ; 4

Lady Margaret 20A ; 40

Lamkin 29 ; 74

iMncaster Maid, The 70; 147

Lass of Mohay, The iioD ; 196

Lass of Roch Royal, The 22 ; 47

Last Fierce Charge, The 231 ; 274

Lexington Murder 6sA(i)D; 140 fif.

Lexington Murder, The 6sA A (2) 139 ff.
Lillie Shaw 308 308(1) ; 328
Lily O 5B ; 19
Lion's Den, The 89B ; 166
Little Black Mustache, The 202 A; 260
Little Mary Faggen 253B ; 295
Little Mary Phagan 253 ; 295
Little Mathey Grones 26B ; 53
Little Mathev Groves 26R(i)H; 54,.56
Little Mathigrew 26C ; 54
Little Mohca no; 195
Little Mohee iioM; 197
Little Mohee, The iioCINO; I95.197 ff.
Little -Molly 82E ; 157
Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 26; 53
Little Musgrove and Lady Barnard 26G; 55
Little Oma Wise 300I ; 321
Little Rosewood Casket 273E E(i) ; 305 f-
Little Rosewod Casket, The 273 ; 305
Little White Rose, The 276A; 311
Locks and Bolts 84; 157
London City 81K; 155
Lonesome Low, The 47C C(i); 122
Lord Batesman 14F ; 28
Lord Bonnie 18; 29
Lord Daniel 26C; 54
Lord Daniel's Wife 26AF ; 53, 55
Lord Lovcl 21 C C(i)FHIJ ; 43 ff.
Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy 21 B; 43
Lord Randal 6 ; 19
Lord Randall 6B B ( i ) ; 20 f .
Lord Thomas 19DHI ; :i2, 34 f.
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 19AA(i)OP; 30 ff., 38 f.
Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor 19GMM(i)Q; 34, 37 ff.
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender 19EE(i); Z2 ff.
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor 19K ;36
Lord Ullin's Daughter 329; 346
Lorena Bold Creiv, The 119; 204
Lovely Susan 96 ; 180
Lover's Lament, The 82; 156
Lovers' Last Farewell 155I; 228
Lucy Bound 41 ; 102

Maid Freed from the Gallows 30BP ; 77, 79
Maid Freed from the Gallozvs, The 30A; 76
Maid I Left Behind, The 145B ; 213
Man Killed by Falling from a Horse285; 312
Manley Pankey 292; 319
Mary of the Wild Moor 78; 152
Massa's Gone Away 232A ; 275
Mermaid, The 48; 124
Michael Roy 332; 351
Miller and His Three Sons, The 177A A(i)J; 235 ff.
Miller's Sons, The 177K; 238
Miss Dinah 204C ; 264
Mollie Vaunders 76B ; 151
Molly Bawn 76; 151
Murdering Miller, The 656; 142
Murder of James A. Garfield, The249C; 288
Murder of Laura Foster, The 302AA(i)B; 324 i-
My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher185; 244
My Grandma Lives on Yonder Little Green 194 A ; 250
My Little Dear, So Fare You Well167; 231
My Pretty Cold Rain 2D(i) ; 7
My Soldier Boy 112A; 200

Nancy of Yarmouth 61 ; 134
Napoleon 146AE; 214 f.

Nellie Cropsey 307C; 327

New Ballad 90A; 166

Nezv River Shore 85 ; 158

Nobody Coming to Marry Me 185 ;

244
Nora Darling 113B ; 202
No Sign of a Marriage 203A ; 260

O Drowsy Sleeper 71E; 149

Oh, Captain, Captain, Tell Me True

104 C; 187
Oh, Father, Go Build Me a Boat,

104A; 187
Oh, Lily O 5A ; 18
Oh, You Drowsy Sleeper 71D; 148
Old Dyer, The 179; 238
Old Man from the North Countree

4B; 14
Old Woman 187 187(1) ; 245 f.
Old Woman's Blind Husband, The

182 A(i) ; 240 flf.
Once I Loved with Fond Affection

153B ; 222
On Christmas Day 53; 131
On the Banks of the Ohio 66G; 144
On the Field of Battle, Mother 228

228(1) ; 273 f.
Ore Knob, The 211 ; 270
Origin of Ireland, The 325 ; 342
Orphan Girl, The 148BCFH ; 216 flf.
Orphans, The iSoA; 220
Our Goodman 42C; 103, iii

Parting Words 160; 230

Paul Jones 220A ; 272

Pearl Bryant 250U ; 292

Pennsylvania Boy, The 334 ; 353

Polly 64C; 137

Polly Bonn 76A ; 151

Polly Oliver 97 ; 181

Poor Jack 109A ; 194

Poor Jack Is Gone a-Sailing 99B ; 182

Poor Little Sailor Boy 151A; 221

Poor Naomi 300A; 329

Poor Naomi (Omie Wise) 300; 320

 

Poor Nell 65M ; 144

Poor Parker 117; 203

Prentice Boy, The 104L; 188

'Prentice Boy, The 62B ; 135

Pretty Betsey 70; 147

Pretty Cold Rain 2D ; 6

Pretty Fair Maid 92D D(i)KL; 174
flf.

Pretty Fair Maid, A 92B(3) ; 172

Pretty Fair Maid Dozm in the Gar-
den, A 92; 169

Pretty Fair Maid in a Garden 92D(2) ;

Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden 92B

(2) ; 172

Pretty Maid 92I ; 176
Pretty Molly 64E ; 138
Pretty Polly 2A ; 4 f .
Pretty Polly 64E(i) ; 138
Pretty Polly 82B ; i^b
Pretty Polly 97 ; 181
Pretty Polly 203B ; 261

Rake and Rambling Boy, The 121

(3) ; 207

Ramblin' Boy, The 121 121(1) ; 205 f.
Rambling Boy, The 121 121(2) ; 205 f.
Range of the Buffalo, The 335 ; 353
Rattle Snake 208C ; 265
Returning Soldier, The 92B(4) ; 173
Rich Esquire, The 197B ; 257
Richest Girl in Our Town 41 ; 102 f.
Rich Lady from London, The 86A ;

158
Rich Man and Lazarus, The 54; 132
Riddle Song, The 12AC ; 25 flf.
Ripest Apple, The 165 ; 231
Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires

33; 81
Romish Lady, The 56 56(1) (2) ; 132

flf.
Rose Connally 67A ; 145
Rose de Marian Time iB; 3 f.
Rosewood Casket, The 273N ; 306
Rugged Soldier, The 92C; 174

Sailor Boy, The 104; 187

Sailor Boy, The iiiA; 199

Sailor's Bride, The 112; 200

Sally Dover 90D ; 168

Sarpint 208E ; 266

Saucy Anna Lee 143B ; 212

Scarboro Sand (Robin Hood Side)

105; 190
Scolding Wife, The 201 A ; 258 f.
Serpent, The 208BD ; 265 f.
Servant Man 91 ; 168
Seven Brothers 3C; 10
Seven Long Years He Has Kept Me

Waiting 92 J ; 176

 

410

 

INDEX OF TITLES AND VARIANT TITLES

 

Seven Sisters, The 2B ; 5
Seventh King's Daughter 2(j ; 7 ,
Seventh King's Daughters, The 2L ; 5
Seven Year Song 88B B(i) ; ib3 i-
Seven Years Song 88B(,2) ; 164
Sheffield Apprentice, The i2oti ; 204
Ship That Never Returned, 1 he 21511 ,

271

Ship Titanic, The 287E; 316
Shooting of His Deer 76C; 152
Shu Lady 311; 329 ^^ „

Silly Bill 195A ACDBC; 252 ff.
Sili'er Dagger, The 72D ; 149 i-
Sinful FUrting 275A A(i) ; 309 f-
Singing the Ten Commandments 50A ;

126
Single Sailor, The 92A(2) ; 170
Sir Hugh; or, the Jew's Daughter

34; 82
Sir Patrick Spence 16; 29
Sir Patrick Spens 16; 29
Sister, Sister, Have You Heard r

196E; 255
Skeptic's Daughter, 1 he 328; 34o
Skew Ball 136; 211
Soldier's Poor Little Boy, The 151 ;

221

Soldier's Wooing, The 86A(i) ; 158 f.
Springfield Mountain 208; 265
Storms Are on the Ocean, The 22A;

47

Stormy Winds 48; 124 f.

Story of Mine Cave-In; Shirley and
Smith 338 ; 356

Strange Things Wuz Happening 240;
280

Strange Things Wuz (uh) Happemng
240; 280

Suffolk Miracle, The 41 ; 102

Susan Price 14E; 27

Swannanoa Tunnel 270I ; 301

Swapping Song 196A; 255

Swapping Songs 196; 255

Sweet Jane 259B ; 296

Sweet Sally 90C; 167

Sweet Trinity, The (The Golden Van-
ity) 47, 120

Sweet William and Fair Ellen 3B
B(i) (2); 8 fif.

Sweet William and Nancy 130; 209

Sweet William's Ghost 23; 48

Sweet Willie 3FG; 12 f.

Sweet Willie 20CD ; 41

Sweet Willy 23 ; 448

Texas Ranger, The 234B ; 276
That Bloody War 239A ; 279
There Was a Lady in the Garden
92B(i) ; 171

 

They Say It Is Sinful to Flirt 275;

309 ,. ^

'J' hey Were Standing by the U tndoiv

157; 229
Three Butchers, The 80; 154
Three Leaves of Shamrock 135 ; 210
Three Little Babes 25E(i) ; 51
Three Little Babes, The 25AC C(i)

DJ ; 49 fif.
Three Rogues, 1 he 188C; 246 f.
Through the Woods and Through the

Bushes i55A(i) ; 226
Tiranti, My Son 6A ; 19
Titanic, The 287; 314
Tom Dooley 303B ; 325
Tom Dula 303 ; 325
Trooper and Maid 49; 125
True Love 30H ; yy
Turkish Revoloo, The 47A A(i);

120 f.

Twa Sisters 4EF ; 15 f.

Tzva Sisters, The 4G; 13, 17

Tzvelve Blessings of Mary, The 51 ;

128
'Tzvelve Days of Christmas, The

52BD ; 129 IT.
Two Little Children 150; 220
Two Little Orphans 150D; 221
Two Sisters, The 4A ; 13
Two Soldiers 231 B ; 275
Two Soldiers, The 231 A ; 274

Unfortunate Rake, The 263 ; 296

Vilikins and His Dinah 204A ; 263

War Is A-Raging, The lOoB ; 184
War Is Now Raging and Johnny He

Must Fight looC; 185
War Song 99C; 183
We Have Met and We Have Parted

1 55 A; 226
What Luck, Young Johnny? 108B;

^193
When I Was a Bachelor 184 A ; 243
When I Was a Little Boy, I Lived at

Market Square 336 ; 354
Whistle, Daughter 186B ; 244
Whistle, Daughter, Whistle 186; 244
Wife of Usher's Well, The 25E; 48.

51

Wife Wrapped in a Wether Skin, The

44D ; 114
Wife Wrapped in Weather's Skin

44D(i) ; IIS
Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin, The

44;. 113
Wilkins and His Dinah 204 ; 263
William Hall 330 ; 348 flF.
JVilliam Riley 128 128(1); 208 f.

 

INDEX OF TITLES AND VARIANT TITLES

William Taylor io6; 191
Willie Ransome 6C C(i) ; 21 f.
Wreck of Old Number Nine, The
340; 357

Yankee Soldier 86A(i) ; 159
Yorkshire Bite, A 46 A ; 119
You Are False, but I'll Forgive You

154A ; 225
Young Beichan 14; 27

 

411

Young Charlotte 209ABC C(i)DE;

267 ff.
Young Edzvin in the Lozvlands Low

79; 153
Young Hunting 18 18(1) ; 29 f.
Young Johnny 108A A(i)(2)D; 191

ff.

Zolgotz 337 ; 355 f-

----------------------------------------------------

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

The first lines are listed as they appear in the present volume, followed by  the serial number of the ballad and, after a semicolon, by the page reference.  Often when the text accompanying the tune does not contain the first line of  the ballad the line is omitted. But several exceptions have been made and  strict consistency has not been aimed at.

[A Chieftain to the Highlands bound] 329; 347

A fair young maid out in the garden 926(3) ; 172

A forty-gun frigate from Baltimore came 220A; 272

A great crowd now has gathered 308(1) ; 328

A nice young ma-wa-wan 208C ; 266

A noble young lawyer from London he came 90C ; 167

A press gang came on Willie 323 ; 341

A pretty fair damsel in the garden 92L; 177

A pretty fair maid all in a garden 92A, 92A(2) ; 169, 170

A pretty fair miss all in the garden 92C ; 174

A pretty young maid down in a garden 92D(i) ; 175

A soldier, a soldier, a soldier I know I am 86A(i) ; 159

A young man entered that old man's gate 3C ; 10

Ain't no hammer in this mountain 270E ; 300

All down in yonder country where a couple was dwelling 203B ; 262

Amy was a good woman 251 J ; 294

Annie, Annie, my darling 250R ; 292

And as I went walking for pleasure one day iioO; 199

And it was in the month of Alay 27S ; 64

And now since I went to the city 320B ; 338

As he rode up to the old man's gate 36(1), 3D(i), 3F, 3G; 9, 11-13

As I came down to London 94B ; 180

As I crossed over London's bridge 38; 91

As I walked out one morning 131 ; 210

As I walked out one morning early 93 ; 178

As I was out walking for pleasure one day iioM; 197

As I was roaming one morning in May iioF; 196

As I went out last Sunday 82B ; 156

As I went out to Darby, sir 176B; 234

As I went out walking for pleasure one day iioD, iiol, iioN; 196-98

As I went over London's bridge 38, [38(1)], 38(2), 38(3) ; 91-94

As I went through Wichander's town lA; 3

As we war walking along the sea brim 4E ; 15

As you go through yonder town iB; 3

Asheville Junction 270H, 270I ; 301, 302

Awake, arise, you drowsy sleeper 71A; 147

Away in the north country there lived a young couple 203A; 261

Away on the lonely river 170A ; 232

Beaulampkins was as fine a mason 29A, 29A(i), 29A(2) ; 74, 75
Bessie, oh, Bessie, go ask your father 71B; 148
Black Jack David came a-running through the woods 37A ; 84
Black Jack David come a-ridin' through the woods 37E ; 87

Black Jack David come a-riding through the woods 376(1), 37H ; 85, 90

Black Jack David come riding through the woods 37B, 84

Black Jack David coming through the woods 37I ; 90

Bolamkin was as fine a mason 29B ; 76

Bold Robing hood one morning he stood 33 ; 82

Bone's gone to the war in the battle he is fighting 146B ; 215

Brady went down to the grocery store 248 ; 287

Captain, captain, tell me true 104C; 188

Captain, I'm drivin', (huh) 270G; 301

Claud Allen and his dear old father 246B, 246C; 286

Come, all good people, I'd have you draw near 300A ; 321

Come all ye Texan Rangers 234B ; 277

Come all ye Christian people 249C; 288

Come all you dear people 287B ; 314

Come all you friends and sailors, too 286 ; 313

Come all you kind people my story to hear 305A ; 326

Come all you young fellows 76B ; 151

Come and I will sing you 50B ; 127

Come, blooming youth in the midst of day 211 ; 270

Come down, come down, my pretty little bird 18(1) ; 30

Come down, come down. Said a father to his son 46 A ; 119

Come home my Lord, Lady Marg'ret, she said 21J ; 47

Come mother, come mother, come tell us all 19H ; 34

Come sit by me and give attention 72B ; 150

Come ye youths of every age 285 ; 313

Dear Nell, since I left the city 320A ; 337

Dear son, dear son, come tell to me 7B ; 23

Don't forget me, little darling 163; 231

Down by a weeping willow 250D ; 291

Down by yon weeping willow 250X ; 293

Down in a lonely valley 250U ; 292

Down in the low green valley 250A ; 290

Down in the willow garden 67A, 67B, 67B(i) ; 145, 146

Early, early in the spring 87A, 87B ; 161

Early in the spring when I was young 11 2A; 200

Early one morning in the month of May 278(1) ; 64

Fare thee well, for once I loved you 1S4A; 225

Farewell, charming Nancy, since I must go and leave you loiB; 186

Farewell, sweet Jane, I now must start 259B ; 296

Father, father, I am married 199; 258

Father, O father, come riddle this riddle 19J ; 36

Father, oh father, go build me a boat 104A ; 187

Frankie Baker was a good girl 251D ; 293

Gentle Zephyrs, blow ye lightly o'er the place where sleeps the dead 319; 336
George Collins rode home one cold winter night 28B, 28B(i), 286(2), 28D,

28E(i), 28G; 70-73
George Collins come home one cold winter night 28E, 28E(2) ; 72, 73

 

414 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

Georgie's father was a fine old man 38(4) ; 95

Go slacken your rope oh for a while 30R; 81

God moved on de waters 287 H ; 317

Good morning, dear daughter, and sister 331 ; 350

Good woman, good woman, oh, what are you doing down here? 80B ; 134

Great-grand-dad, when the land was young 266 ; 297

Hangman, hangman, slack up your rope 30C ; "/"z

Hangman, hangman, slacken your rope 30H ; 78

Have you got any money for me 30P ; 79

He called to him his eldest son 177 J; 237

He followed her upstairs and down 2B ; 5

He followed me up, and he followed me down 2D, 2D(i) ; 6, 7

He followed me up, he followed me down 2C; 5

He gave me a rose, a pretty white rose 276 A; 311

He pulled out his pocket-handkerchief 96 ; 181

He rode up to the old man's gate 3D; 11

Here comes the F.F.V., the fastest on the line 339; 357

Here I stand at the jail house 292; 320

Holly, holly, holly-day 26A ; 53

How can there be a cherry without any stone 12C ; 2"]

How come this blood on your knife, dear son 7C ; 23

How old are you, my pretty little miss 37E(i), 37G ; 88, 89

How old are you, my pretty Polly 37D, 37D(i) ; 86, 87

1 am free, oh free again 160; 230

I am going far away, Nora darling 113B; 202

I am leaving the city, dear Nellie 320C ; 339

I am poor Jack, I'm just from sea 109A ; 195

1 asked my love to take a walk 66G ; 144

I came home the other night as drunk as I could be 42B(4) ; 108

1 came in the other night as drunk as I could be 42B(2), 42h(5) ; 106, 109

I courted pretty Molly the live-long night 64E ; 138

... I crave your attention 325 ; 342

I dreamed last night of my true love 84; 157

I gave my love a cherry without any stone 12A, 12B ; 26

I have a true love o'er yonder's ocean 92K ; 177

I have finished him a letter 143B ; 212

I know it was wrong to leave her 321 ; 339

I once knew a little girl 91 ; 168

I oncet could 'a' married a king's daughter fair 40B ; 97

I saw three ships come sailing in 53 ; 131

I took my scythe one Sunday, you know 208E ; 266

I took you to be a man of honor 92A(i) ; 169

I was born in Boston 242E ; 281

I was brought up in Shefifield and of a high degree 120B; 205

I was leaving dear old Ireland, in the merry month of June 135; 210

I will come in, but I won't sit down 40E ; 99

I will pawn this watch and chain, love 153N ; 224

I went down to the Diver's house just the other day 176C; 235

I will sing. What will you sing 50A ; 127

If you can't answer my questions nine 316; 331

I'll build myself a little boat 104N ; 190

 

INDEX OF FIRST LINES 4I5

I'll tell you a story of little Oma Wise 300I ; 321

I'll tell you of a fellow i95A(i), iQSB ; 253, 254

I'll tell you the story of a burglar man 192; 247

I'm in love with a fellow 195C; 254

In a little rosewood casket 273N ; 306

In eighteen hundred and ninety-eight 296A ; 320

In Jefferson City I used to dwell 81 A; 155

In London city there lived a maid 332; 351

In London city where I did dwell 81 K; 155

In Scarborough town where I was born 27E ; 62

In Scarlet Town where I did dwell 27 A (4) ; 59

In Scarlet Town where I was born 27A, 27A(i), 27A(2), 27A(3), 27A(5),

27A(6), 27B, 27FF; 57-61, 66
In Scotland I was bred and born 27GG ; 67
In the good old colony times 188B; 246
In the little rosewood casket 273E ; 305
It came about the Martimer's time 43B ; 112
It fell about the Martin's time 43B ; 112

It happened in Jack Borough in the year of seventy-three 335 ; 354
It rained a mist, it rained a mist 34B ; 82
It was early, early in the spring 87C; 162
It was in the merry month of May 27O ; 63
It was just before the last fierce charge 231 A; 274
It was of a dark and stormy night 151A; 221
It was on a cold winter's night 78; 153
It was on Monday morning about one o'clock 287 D ; 315
It was on one day, it was on one day 26C ; 54
It would have been better if we never 156B; 229
It's of a brave young girl 128; 208

Jackey went a-sailing, with a trouble in his mind 99A ; 182

Jimmy Randall went a-hunting 76C; 152

Johnnie Henry was a hard working man 270C ; 300

John Henry was a steel-driving man 270A; 298

John Reilly is my true love's name 93(1) ; I79

John, said Sal, why don't you go 208B ; 265

Kind wife, kind wife, loving wife to me 42A(i) ; 104
Kind wife, loving wife, how may it be 42 A ; 103

Lady Marg'ret sat at her bower window 20D ; 41

Last night when I come home as drunk 42B ; 104

Last night while I was sleeping 170B ; 233

Last Saturday night when I came home 426(1) ; 105

[Let the wind blow in upon me] 317; 333

Little Mary Phagan 253B ; 295

Lord Bonnie he was a hunting man 18; 29

Lord Lovel he stood by the castle gate 21 1; 46

Lord Lovel stood at the castle gate 21C, 2iC(i) ; 43, 44

Lord Lovel was at his gate side 21F; 45

Lord Thomas dressed himself all up 19Q ; 40

Lord Thomas he being a bold young man 19A, i9A(i) ; 30, 31

Lord Thomas he rode until he came to fair Ellender's door 19D ; 32

 

4l6 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

Lord Thomas he was a very gay lad 19K ; 36
Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas he was a brave man 19X1(1) ; 2)7
Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas take my advice 19O; 38
Lovers, I pray lend an ear to my story 61 ; 134

McKinley called for volunteers 239A ; 279

Merry spring when I was young 112B; 201

Miss Emily was a pretty fair maid 79A, 79A(i) ; 153, 154

My father died, and I don't know how 196A ; 255

My father tried to rear me right 65M ; 144

My father's a hedger and ditcher 185 ; 244

My grandma lives on yonder little green 194A, 194C; 250, 251

My grandmother lived on yonder little green 194F; 251

My home's in Pennsylvania 334 ; 353

My humble parents brought me up 65D ; 142

My name hit's Charles Giteau 249G; 289

My parents raised me tenderly; they had no child but me 145B ; 213

Aly pretty little crowing chicken 2A ; 4

My tender parents brought me up 65 A, 65A(i) ; 139, 140

No home, no home, plead a little girl 148F, 148H ; 217, 218
No home, no home, pled a little girl 148C; 217

O dig my grave both broad and deep 81 N ; 156

O fare you well, my [Polly, dear] 322; 340

O father and mother, come tell this riddle 19I ; 35

O father, father, build me a boat 104M ; 189

O father, o father, come riddle this riddle 19G; 34

O hangman, o hangman, just wait a while 30O; 79

O mother and father, come riddle my riddle 19E, i9E(i) ; a

O Sally love, o Sally love 90D ; 168

O William was a youthful lovyer 106; 191

Of poor Ellen Smith and how she was found 305E ; 327

Oh captain, oh captain, oh what shall I do 47C(i) ; 123

Oh, don't you see them seven sailing ships 40H ; 100

Oh father, tell me on tomorrow night 149D ; 219

Oh, gentlemen, ladies and all 136; 211

Oh, Georgie, hold up your head 38N ; 78

Oh hang your head, Tom Dooley (2)3036; 325

Oh hangman, hangman, slacken your rope 30A ; yj

Oh have you brought me silver 30Q ; 80

Oh, I'll tell you of a fellow 195A ; 252

Oh, Jesse was a man who travelled through the land 243H ; 283

Oh, my name it is Joe Bowers 258; 295

Oh, one night sad and lonely I lie on my bed 146E ; 215

Oh, Polly, oh, Polly, oh, Polly, said he 64C ; 137

Oh, Polly, pretty Polly, come go along with me 64E(i) ; 138

[Oh rise up, William Riley] and go along with me 128(1) ; 2og

Oh, the stormy winds they did blow 48; 124

Oh, they say it is sinful to flirt 275A, 275B ; 309, 310

Oh, they tell me it's sinful to flirt 275A(i) ; 310

Oh, we hear a different signal 291 ; 319

Oh, where have you been. Lord Randall, my son 6B, 6B(i) ; 20

Oh, where have you been to, Tiranti, my son 6A ; 19

 

INDEX OF FIRST LINES 417

Oh, who is that in your porch window 71E; 149

Oh, you've often heard it asked 201 A ; 259

Old woman, old woman, are you fond of smoking 187 ; 245

Old woman, old woman, do you want me to marry you? 187(1) ; 245

On a summer's day as the waves were rippled 215H ; 271

On the banks of Rosedale waters 328 ; 346

On the field of battle, mother 228, 228(1) ; 273, 274

On the mountain Saturday night not a star was in sight 340 ; 358

Once I courted a charming beauty bright 88B ; 163

Once I courted a very beauty bright 88D ; 165

Once I had a fond devotion 153H ; 224

Once I had a sweetheart, noble, brave and true 236A, 236B ; 277, 278

Once I loved a fond affection 153E, 153F; 223

Once I loved with fond affection 153B ; 222

Once in my saddle I used to look handsome 263C ; 296

Onc't I courted a charming beau, I loved him dear as life 202A ; 260

Onct I courted a charming beauty bright 88B(2) ; 164

One day, one day in the month of May 27G ; 62

One eve when the moon shone brightly 250S ; 292

One month ago since Christmas last 65B ; 142

One morning in the month of May 27V ; 65

Poor Jack has gone a-sailing, with trouble on his mind 99B ; 183

Pretty Betsy was of a beauty clear 70 ; 147

Pretty fair maid all in a garden 92D ; 174

Pretty fair Miss was in the garden 92B(2) ; 172

Pretty maid, pretty maid, all in the garden 92I ; 176

Pretty Polly lies musing in her downy bed 97 ; 181

Raise the window, mother darling 318A, 318B ; 334

Say, darkies, have you seen de Massa wid a mustache on his face 232A ; 275

See the women and children a-going to the train 290; 318

She churns her butter in 'er dad's old boot 327 ; 345

She dressed herself in men's clothing, an opulet she put on 99C; 183

She followed him up, she followed him up 28O ; 74

[She stepped into the tailor shop and] dressed in men's array 99E; 184

She's neat and she's rare and she's neat to behold 130; 209

Since I left, since I left that city 320C; 338

Sister, sister, have you heard 196E ; 256

Sons of freedom, listen to me 221 ; 273

Sweet William arose one morning bright 20I ; 42

Sweet William rode to the Old Man's gate 3B ; 8

Sweet William rode up to the old man's gate 36(2) ; 9

Sweet Willie he arose one morning in May 20C ; 41

The day I left my father's house 121 (2) ; 206

The dead man came to his true love's door 23 ; 48

The devil he came to the farmer one day 45(3) ; 119

The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me 52B, 52D ; 129, 130

The first girl I courted she was a beauty bright 88A ; 162

The first one I courted was a charming beauty bright 88C; 165

The first was a miller and he stole yarn 188C ; 247

The great crowd now has gathered 308; 328

 

4l8 INDEX OF FIRST LINES

The greatest sheep that ever was found (3) 176 A; 234

The king he sits in DumferHng town 16 ; 29

The other night when I came home 426(3) ; 107

The prentice boy and he was bound 104L; 188

The president called for volunteers 239C; 280

The richest girl in our town 41 ; 102

The ripest apples soon are rotten 165 ; 231

The tragedy I now relate 302A ( i ) , 302B ; 324, 325

The very first blessing Mary had 51 ; 128

The war is a-raging looB ; 184

The wedding bells were ringing 272(1) ; 304

There ain't no hammer like my pardner 270J ; 302

There liv'd a Romish lady 56(2) ; 134

There lived an old lord by the northern sea 4G; 17

There once was a lady, and she lived in Spain 25A ; 49

There was a bonnie blade 183B, 1838(1) ; 242

There was a brisk young farmer 330 ; 349

There was a fair damsel in a garden 920(2) ; 175

There was a farmer had three sons 177K ; 238

There was a jolly soldier, just lately come from war 86D ; 160

There was a lady, a lady gay 25C, 25C(i) ; 49, 50

There was a lady in the garden 928(1) ; 171

There was a lady of beauty bright 25D, 25E, 25E(i), 25J ; 51, 52

[There was a little girl in Knoxville used to live] 65G ; 143

There was a little lady, From London she came 90A ; 166

There was a little ship a-sailing on the sea 47C; 122

There was a little ship in South America 47B ; 121

There was a little ship in the North Amerikee 47A ; 120

There was man in ancient time 54; 132

There was a man in Tennessee 245 ; 285

There was a man lived in the west 4A ; 13

There was a man named Johnny Sands 181B; 239

There was a man of our country 14F ; 28

There was a man who lived a merchant 62B ; 135

There was a rich esquire in London he did dwell 197B ; 257

There was a rich lady from London she came 86 A ; 159

There was a rich merchant in London did dwell 204A, 204C; 263, 264

There was a Romish lady 56, 56(1) ; 132, 133

There was a young lad in Scarboro did dwell 105; 190

There was a young squire in Plymouth did dwell 197A ; 256

There was an old dyer wo had a young wife 179; 239

There was an old lady in our town i82A(i) ; 241

There was an old man at the foot of a hill 45; 116

There was an old man from the North countree 4B ; 14

There was an old man lived in the West 440(1) ; 115

There was an old man lived over the hill 45(2) ; 118

There was an old man lived un'er de hill 45(1) ; 117

There was an old man that lived in the West 44A ; 113

There was an old man who lived in the West 44O ; 114

There was an old miller and he lived all alone 177A, i77A(i) ; 236

There was an old woman in our town 182A ; 240

There was an old woman lived on the sea ashore 4F; 16

There were three gypsies in this town 37C; 86

There were three sisters playin' at ball 5A, 5B ; 18, 19

There were two lofty ships from old England came 118; 203

There's a little rosewood casket 273E ( i ) ; 306

They call me a rake and a rambling boy 121(3) ; 207

They call me the rude, the rambling boy 121, 121(1) ; 205, 20b

They sailed away on a gallant bark 324; 342

They tell me, father, that tonight 149A, 149K ; 218, 219

They were standing at the window 157A; 230

They worked all day to the evening tide 338 ; 356

This dreadful, dark and dismal day 301 A, 30iA(i), 301B; 322, ^2^

This good little man come in at noon 44C ; 113

Though this night we part forever iS5B(i) ; 228

Three cents is the money 311 ; 329

Three years ago, when Jack and Joe set sail across the foam 274B, 274D,

274K; 307-309
Thursday night when I come home as drunk as 1 could be 42C ; i n
To my hi, to my hi, to my ho holy day 26B, 26B(i) ; 53, 54
Tomorrow morn I'm sweet sixteen, and Billy Grimes, the drover 193A, 193I;

248. 249
Tomorrow morn I'm sweet sixteen, and Billy Grimes, the rover 193F; 248
'Twas in the early month of May 27II ; 69
'Twas in the lovely month of May 27HH ; 68
'Twas of a comely young lady fair 95 A ; 180
'Twas on a dark and stormy night iiiA; 199
'Twas one rainy evening 76A ; 151
Two little children, a boy and a girl 150A; 220
Two little orphans, a boy and a girl 150D ; 221

Up steps the cabin boy an' the cabin boy said he 47D ; 123

War now is raging And Johnny he must fight lOoC; 185

Wake up, wake up, you drowsy sleeper 71D; 148

Way down in a lone valley 250L ; 291

We have meet and we have parted 155A, 155B; 226. 227

We have met, we've met my own true love 40L ; lOi

We'll meet, we'll meet, my own true love 4oA(2) ; 97

Well, they'z strange things wuz happening in the land 240 [cho.] ; 280

We've met, we've met, my own true love 40A, 40C ; 95, 98

What did you eat for your supper, John Randolph, my son 6B(2) ; 21

What luck have you, young Johnny 108A, io8A(i), 108B ; 192, 193

What luck, what luck, young Johnnie io8A(2) ; 193

When I became a rover, it grieved my heart most sore 145E; 213

When I come home the other night just as drunk as I could be 426(6) ; no

When I got there I looked around 268; 298

When I was a bachelor bold and young 184 A; 243

When I v>as a little boy, I lived at market square 336 ; 354

[When I] was growing up 326; 343

When we sailed o'er the high ocean 119; 204

When will you be back, Lord Lovel, she said 21H; 45

When will you come back. Lord Lovel, said she 21B; 43

Where you been, Willie Ransome, Willie Ransome, my son 6C, 6C(i) ; 22

While I was out walking for pleasure one day iioC; I95

While the wedding bells were ringing 272(2) ; 304

Whistle, daughter, whistle, and I'll give you a pin 186B ; 244

Who has not seen Kitty Clyde 198B ; 257
Who killed Cock Robin 315 ; 330
Who will shoe your pretty little feet 22A ; 47
Why weep ye by the tide, ladye 333 ; 353

Ye gods above, protect us widows 117; 203

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, it's where have ye been 36 ; 83

Yes, I went down to the depot not many days ago 243 B ; 282

Young Caroline was a lady 89B ; 166

Young Charlotte lived by the mountain side 209A, 209B, 209C, 209C(i) ; 267-269

Young Charlotte lived on a mountain side 209D ; 269

Young Charlotte used to live on the mountain side 209E ; 270
Young Deham from Glasgow is gone 14E ; 28
Young Johnny's been to Earlham 108D; 194
Young ladies, young ladies, come lend your attention 72D ; 150
Your lily white fingers loiC; 186

Zolgotz, mean man 337 ; 355