Expert Town- Mildred Tuttle (AR) 1941 Randolph J
[My title. Fragment from: Randolph, Ozark Folksongs; 4 vols. 1946-50; reprinted Columbia, 1980, II, 92. Randolph notes follow. I've renamed some of his versions without titles by creating local titles.
This version was published in full along with the recording in AFS L12 by Emrich where it is titled, "Expert Town."
Randolph attributes his versions to the local murder of Lula Noel in 1892 which, according to a report in History of McDonald County, Missouri (1897), is "One of the most appalling crimes ever committed in McDonald county was the murder of Mary Lula Noel daughter of W. H. and S. E. Noel on the 10 day of December, 1892." Lula Noel and William Simmons (the convicted murderer) are not mentioned in Randolph's versions and neither are the locations Lanagan and Joplin.
The attribution of Noel Girl is accurate as a general title sincein some versions he acquired corresponding testimony (Version B, for example). This however does not mean the text of the ballad was changed in any way or should be titled Noel Girl since she is not part of the text.
R. Matteson 2016]
J. "Expert Town." Sung by Mrs. Mildred Tuttle, Farmington, Ark., Dec. 31, 1941. Learned years ago from her parents.
1. It was in the city of Expert
Once where I used to dwell.
It was in the city of Expert Town
I owned a flouring mill.
2. I fell in love with a nice young girl,
Dark rolling was her hair [roving was her eye]
I told her that I'd marry her
If me she'd never deny.
3. I fell in love with another girl,
I loved her just as well,
The devil put it in my mind
My first true lover to kill.
4. I caned down to her sister's house
At eight o clock one night.
But little did the poor girl think
I owed her in[1] despite.
5. "We'll have a walk. we'll have a talk
Down by the meadow field,
We'll also have a private talk
And set our wedding day."
6. We walked along, we talked along
Till we came to the levelest ground,
I picked me up a stick of wood
And knocked the poor girl down.
7. She fell upon her bending knees
Crying, "Lord have mercy on me!
Oh, Willie, oh. Willie, don't murder me now,
For I'm not prepared to die!"
8. Little attention did I pay,
I beat her more and more.
I beat her till the blood run down,
Her hair was yellow as gold.
9. I picked her up by the lifeless hair,
I swung her round and around.
I swung her on the water top
That flows through Expert Town.
10. Her sister swore my life away
Without a bitter doubt;
She swore that I was the very same man
That taken her sister out.
II. They took me on suspicion,
Locked me up in Expert jail.
I had no one to payoff my fine,
No one to go my bail.
12. And now they're going to hang me
And I'm not prepared to die;
They're going to hang me up in the air
Between the earth and sky.
1. any spite.