Butcher Boy- Ina Harvey (MO) 1958 Hunter C
[From Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #0145 (MFH #37). The subdivided stanzas are Hunter's- I've left them. The first stanzas are missing. Listen: https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0145
R. Matteson 2017]
Butcher Boy- As sung by Mrs. Doug "Ina" Harvey, Rolla, Missouri on June 30, 1958
VERSE 1
O, daughter dear, what's the matter now
Your not so happy, on the account of these tears
VERSE 2
O, mother dear, I do not know
But my heart is filled with grief and woe
VERSE 3
Go get a chair and set me down
Both pen and ink and I'll write it down
VERSE 4
She wrote a line and dried a tear
And then she cried, O Willie, my dear.
VERSE 5
She went upstairs to make her bed
Not another word to her mother said
VERSE 6
Her father came in, that afternoon
And he cried, O where, is my daughter dear
VERSE 7
He went upstairs, th latch he broke
And found her hanging, by a rope
VERSE 8
He took his knife and cut her down
And on her bosom these words were found
VERSE 9
O, what a fool, says a fool am I
To hang myself for a blue-eyed guy
VERSE 10
Go dig my grave both wide and deep
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
VERSE 11
And on my breast place a turtle dove
To prove to the world that I died for love