The Girl Died in Love- C. Lovingood (NC) 1931 Scarborough H
[From Dorothy Scarborough; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938. Date established by Bronson as c.1931. Her notes follow.
The first stanza is similar to the related broadside Nelly's Constancy,
R. Matteson 2017]
Mrs. Rachel Slocumb, of Columbia University, contributed a variant sent to her by Mrs. Charity Lovingood, whose homestead was at the head of Owl Creek, on Hanging Dog Road, near Murphy, North Carolina.
(H) The Girl Died in Love
Oh, Will, Oh, Will, I love you well.
I love you better than tongue can tell.
I love my father and mother, too,
But I'll leave them all and go with you.
In London hills where she did dwell,
A batchelor boy she loved so well.
He courted her heavy, her heart away
And then with her he would not stay.
She went upstairs to make the beds,
And listened to what her Mother said.
Oh, Mother, oh, Mother, you do not know
What aching heart that aches me so.
Oh, Mother, oh, Mother, go dig my grave,
Place a marble stone at my head and feet,
And on my grave there set a dove
To show to the world I died for love.
This old song appears in England under other titles, as: "Deep in Love," "Must I Be Bound, or Must I Go Free?", "The Ale House," and so forth.