Fine Sally- Rice (NC) 1916 Sharp B
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Vol. 2 by Cecil J. Sharp and Maud Karpeles; 1932 edition. My title, Sharp used the generic title, The Brown Girl for all versions, no local titles supplied, although he titled it "Fine Sally" in his field notes. See Sharp/Karpeles notes below.
This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is commonly known in the US, and Canada as "The Brown Girl."
US and Canada versions are based on the hundreds of late 18th century English broadsides sometimes titled "The Sailor from Dover" or "Sally and her Truelove Billy."
Child's B version of 295, "The Brown, Brown Girl" collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, introduced stanzas from the "Sally and her Truelove Billy" songs. In his article "Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation" Steve Gardham has shown that Baring-Gould's ballad is a re-creation of two ballads and not traditional.
To put it simply, the versions are not related to "The Brown Girl" but are part of the "The Sailor from Dover" and "Sally and her Truelove Billy" song group. In the US and Canada some common titles are "Pretty Sally," "Sally," and "A Rich Irish Lady." They have been put here following Bronson and others who have attached them to Child 295, not because they belong here.
R. Matteson 2014]
Notes from Cecil Sharp No. 44. The Brown Girl.
Texts without tunes:— Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 295. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, i, art. 79. Broadside by Such, 'Sally and her True Love Billy' Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 366 (see also further
references). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxvii. 73 ; xxxii. 502 ; xxxix. 110.
Texts with tunes: — Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, ii. 241. Kidson's Garland of English Folk Songs, p. 20. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 295 (tune only). Journal of the Folk-Song Society, viii. 5. British Ballads from Maine, p. 418.
Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 537 and 604.
'Colours' (Texts A and B) may be a corruption of 'country' as given in Folk Songs of the South.
Version J is reminiscent of The Death of Queen Jane (No. 32).
B. [Fine Sally] Sung by Mrs. TOM RICE at Big Laurel, N. C, Aug. 17, 1916; Heptatonic. Mode 3, a+b.
1. Fine Sally, fine Sally, fine Sally, said he,
It's don't you remember when I courted thee?
I courted you for love, you denied me with scorn,
And now I'll reward you for things past and gone.
2 For things past and gone, love, forget and forgive,
And grant me a little longer on this earth to live.
I never will forgive you in the durance of my breath,
And I'll dance on your grave when you're lying in the earth.
3 Then off her fingers pulled diamond rings three,
Says: O wear these for my sake when you're dancing on me,
And fly from your colours [1] and be no more seen
When you're done dancing on Sally your queen.
4 Farewell to old father and old father's friends,
Farewell to this young man. God make him amends
Farewell to this whole world and all.
1. country (Sharp's footnote about Cox A). Sharp A and B have "colour(s)," which should mean "to abandon or go away from your general's ensign (flag)," i.e., to fly from your colours; [from] Latin a, away from, bandum, the general's banner. [Reference: E. Cobham Brewer, 1887); Altered English: Surprising Meanings of Familiar Words - Page 11 by Jeffrey Kacirk.]
However "colors" in this case, does not seem to represent a flag. After an examination of several versions, it seems that the word is "color" usually "colors" and that it means the reddish hue or the color of a living body- when one loses their color, they are dead. When they "fly from their (normal) colors," they are dead and can "no longer be seen."
Barry (JAFL 1914) from a Kansas MS circa 1908:
While dancing o'er Sally, o'er Sally your queen,
And her colors are there, now no more to be seen!"