Drowsy Sleeper- Mrs. McCord (MO) c. 1891 Randolph D
[My title. From: Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. I, British Ballads and Songs, pp. 244-249. This version has the double suicide but the father's response is preceded by an unusual stanza that tells her lover of the father's shining dagger.
R. Matteson 2016]
D. [Drowsy Sleeper] sung by Mrs. May Kennedy McCord, Springfield, Mo., Nov. 12, 1941. Mrs. McCord learned the song about fifty years ago in Galena, Mo.
Wake up, wake up you drowsy sleeper,
Wake up, wake up, it's almost day,
How can you sleep, you drowsy creature,
When your true love is a-goin' away?
Go way, go way, you'll wake my mother,
And that will be sad news to me,
You must go way and court some other
For she is all this world to me.
Go way, go way, you'll wake my father,
There he lies on his bed of rest,
And in his hand he holds a dagger
For to kill the one I love the best.
Go fetch to me a pen and paper
That I may sit me down and write,
I'll tell you of this grief and sorrow
That troubles me both day and night.
Nancy, oh Nancy, go ask your father
If you my wedded bride may be,
If he says no, return and tell me,
And I no more will trouble thee.
It is no use to ask my father,
There he lies on his bed of rest,
And in his hand he holds a dagger
For to kill the one I love the best.
William took up the shining dagger
And pierced it in his achin' heart,
Adieu, adieu, my own lovin' Nancy,
Adieu, adieu, we both must part.
Then she took up this bloody dagger
And pierced it in her pure white breast,
Farewell to you, my own dear parents,
William and I have gone to rest.