George Collins- Rena Hicks (NC) pre1978 Burton
[From Some Ballad Folks; Burton, 1978. Taken from Rena's "ballit box" and singing. She was already recorded by Warner circa 1940 singing with her husband, Nathan, who died in the 1940s. Missing is stanza 4.
This was probably a community ballad known by Hicks/Harmon/Presnell families.
R. Matteson 2015]
George Collins- Composite of Rena Hicks's sung fragment and written copy.
1. George Collins rode home one cold winter night;
George Collins rode home so fine.
George Collins rode home one cold winter night;
He taken sick and died.
2. But Mary was sitting in yonders town
A-sewin' her silk so fine.
But when she heard that George'd been dead,
She laid her fine silk aside.
3. She follered him up; she follered him down;
she follered him to his grave.
Down on her bending knee
She cried[1] and prayed.
4. Her old mother said, "Oh, Daughter, what makes you weep so?
There're more young men than one."
"Oh, Mother, dear George has got my heart,
And now he's dead and gone.
5. "Set down the coffin, screw off the lid,
Lay back the linen so fine
So I may kiss his cold clay lips;
I'm sure he'll never kiss mine."
1. She wept, she cried, she prayed