Crow Song- Wilcox (NY-IO) c.1860 Stout A
[From, Folklore from Iowa, collected and edited by Earl J. Stout. 1936.
R. Matteson 2014]
A. "Crow Song." Contributed and sung by Mrs. Sophia H. Wilcox, Soldier's Home, Marshalltown, October 1, 1931. She the learned it as a girl in Erie County, New York, probably before the Civil War. Mrs. Wilcox wrote down this version and added, "I don't know the age of this song."
1. There were three crows sat on a tree,
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
There were three crows sat on a tree,
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
There were three crows sat on a tree,
And they were black as crows could be,
And they all flapped their wings and cried
Caw, caw, caw, Billy Magee Magar!
And they all flapped their wings and cried
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
2. Said one old crow unto his mate,
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
Said one old crow unto his mate,
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
Said one old crow unto his mate,
"What shall we do for grub to ate?"
And they all flapped their wings and cried
Caw, caw, caw, Billy Magee Magar!
And they all flapped their wings and cried
Oh Billy Magee Magar!
3. "There lies a horse on yander plain,
Who's by some cruel butcher slain,"
And they all flapped their wings, etc.
4. "We'll perch ourselves on his backbone,
And pluck his eyes out one by one,"
And they all flapped their wings, etc.