Charles Collin- Bailey (NC) 1918 Sharp F
[My title. Three stanza from English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; 1917. Collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp. His diary notes follow.
The last verse may be associated with the Hampshire- George Collins collected in 1906 by Gardiner.
R. Matteson 2015]
Sharp diary 1918 page 265. Thursday 19 September 1918 - Burnsville
Taking our lunch with us we made for Mine Fork, getting off by 8.45. We struck the creek about 2_ miles off and first called on Mrs Anna Bailey from whom we noted 2 rather nice songs. After calling upon several people including a Mrs Deeton & Mrs Edwards found Mrs Clancy Deeton, Mrs Jones’ aunt. She sang us 4 or 5 songs and then her husband Ned Deeton came home to dinner and we left. Finding a comfortable log to sit upon we eat up our lunch and then called upon Widow Edwards from whom we got nothing but religious snivel and some "good" — really atrocious — songs. Returning to Mrs Deeton we found a different atmosphere and apart from one song, very reluctantly sung, she refused to sing any more saying she didn’t know any — a manifest excuse. Something had happened to arouse suspicion, but what it was I do not know. Then we called on another Mrs Deeton, another Mrs Amobel[?] Edwards and taking a "nigh way" up a very steep hill we re-called on Mrs Anna Bailey who gave us another one. Then we trudged home getting to the hotel at 6.30 after a very hard 10-hour day and a rather disappointing one as we had expected much from Mrs Clancy Deeton. Found letters from Evy, Mark Cross, Sonneck etc awaiting us.
F. [Charles Collin]. Sung by Mrs. ANNA BAILEY at Mine Fork, Burnsville, N. C, Sept. 19, 1918; Heptatonic. Mixolydian.
1 Lay him down, lay him down fine,
Lay him down, that corpse of mine.
Let me kiss Charles Collin's lips,
I'm sure that he'll never kiss mine.
2 To-day read over Charles Collin's corpse,
To-morrow read over mine.
3 Haul me over to fair London town
All in fair Ellender's bown[1].
1. bower?