Butcher's Boy- Jimmy Morris (KY) 1937 Lomax
[From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Butcher's Boy- sung by Jimmy Morris of Hazard, Perry County on October 20, 1937. Morris seemed to be reading the text from written papers. Transcription R. Matteson 2017.
In London City where I used to dwell,
A butcher boy I loved so well,
He courted me my life away
And thern with me now he will not stay.
There was a place in that old town,
Where he would go and there sit down,
And take the strange girls on his knee
He'd tell then things that he once told me.
Now I can tell you the reason why,
They have more gold and silver than I,
Their gold will fade their silver fly,
And soon they'll be as poor as I.
Was late one evening when her father came home,
'Oh where is she my only one?"
He went upstairs, 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:
Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
Put a marble stone at my head and feet,
And on my breast place a turtle dove,
To show the world that I died for love.
Must I go tortured and he go free,
Must I love someone that don't love me,
Or must I play the foolish part
And died for love with a broken heart.
And around my grave put a sliding fence,
To show the world that I had no sense.