If You Go Up To Town Tonight- Underhill (IN) 1936 Brewster C
[My Title. From Brewster: Ballads and Songs of Indiana; 1940. Brewster's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011]
THE ELFIN KNIGHT (Child, No. 2)
Five variants, all more or less fragmentary, of this ballad have been recovered in Indiana. They correspond most closely to Sargent and Kittredge A, although, as is usually the case in ballads of this type, all traces of the wooer's supernatural character have disappeared.
For American texts, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 3 (four variants and two airs) ; Gray, p. 78 (one variant) ; Journal, VII, 228; XVIII, 49, 212; XIX, 130; XXIII, 430; XXVI, 174; XXX, 283; PTFLS, X, 137; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 31 (fragment).
English texts are to be found in Sharp, Folk-Songs of England, III, 21; Greig, Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs, 1-2 (two airs); Baring-Gould, A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes, p. 3; Broad-wood and Maitland, English County Songs, p. 12 (with air); Journal of the Folk-Song Society, I, 83; II, 212; III, 274.
The ballad seems to be known locally as "The Two Lovers" or "I Want You to Make Me a Cambric Shirt."
C. No title given [If You Go Up To Town Tonight] Collected by Dr. Claude Lomax, of Dale, Indiana. Sung by Mrs. Earl Underhill, of Doolittle Mills, Indiana. Perry County. January 24, 1936.
1. "If you go up to town tonight,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
Just hand this note to that young miss,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
2. "And tell her to make me a fine shirt,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
And make it out of an old cotton sheet,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
3. "And tell her to sew it with her gold ring,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
And every stitch a foot between,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
4. "And tell her to wash it in yonder well,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
Where never a drop of water fell,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
5. "And tell her to hang it on yonder thorn,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
That never grew there since Adam was born,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma."
6. "If you go down to town tonight,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
Just hand this note to that young gent,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
7. "And tell him to buy me an acre of land,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
Between salt water and the sea sand,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
8. "And tell him to plow it with a ram's horn,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
And seed it down with one grain of corn,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
9. "Tell him to reap it with his penknife,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
And haul it in with two yoke of mice,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
10. "And tell him to haul it to yonder barn,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
That's never been built since Adam was born,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma.
11. "Just tell that gent if he's done his work,
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma,
He can call tonight and get his shirt,
Turn a tiest turn a tiste turn a tinest
Ly flum a lum a licker sloma."