Butcher Boy- Bessie Musick (VA) 1931 Scarborough C
[From Dorothy Scarborough; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938. Date established by Bronson as c.1931. Her notes follow,
R. Matteson 2017]
Bessie Musick, of Artrip, on Big A Mountain, Buchanan County, Virginia, varies the order of stanzas somewhat, but the story is the same. Here, however, the scene is shifted from London City to New York City, which is really about as remote from
Big A Mountain as the former.
(C) The Butcher Boy Miss Bessie Musick is the teacher of a mountain school.
In New York City, where I did dwell,
A butcher boy I love so well.
He courted all my heart away
And now with me he will not stay.
He took a girl upon his knee
And told her just what he told me.
Shall I be young[1], shall I be free?
Shall I love a boy that don't love me?
Oh, no, no, no, that shall not be
For I am young and can be free.
Oh, no, no, no, that shall not be
For[2] apples grow on lily tree.
I went upstairs to make my bed
And nothing to my mother said.
My mother came upstairs to me,
And said, "What matters, daughter, thee?"
Oh, Willie, Willie, I tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I.
But gold will melt and silver fly,
And she'll be just as poor as I.
Her father came and the door he broke
And found her hanging by a rope.
He took his knife and cut her down
And in her bosom these words he found.
Please dig my grave both wide and deep,
Place marble stone on head and feet,
Upon my heart a turtle dove
To show the world I die for love.
1. bound
2. till?