In Jersey City- Watts and Teesdale (Lon) 1943
[From Late Joys at the Players' theatre - page 69; Jean Anderson (acting director of the Players' theatre, London) - 1943. Late Joys, a revival of Victorian Music Hall, began in 1937 at the Players Theatre, then in King Street, Covent Garden.
An English variant of Butcher Boy.
R. Matteson 2017]
In Jersey City- sung by Miss F. Watts and Miss A. Teesdale with music
1. In Jersey City, where I did dwell
A butcher boy I lov'd so well,
He courted me my heart away
And then with me he would not stay.
2. There is a place in that same town
Where my love goes and sets him down;
He takes a strange girl on his knee
And tells to her what he wouldn't tell me.
3. Once when I wore my aprons low
He followed me through frost and snow;
And now I wear my aprons to my chin
He passes by but ne'er stops in.
4. Bring me a chair to set me down
And a pen and ink to write it down.
And with each line she dropped a tear
And calling for her Willie dear.
5. In came Mother. . . .
Oh, daughter dear, what is your grief?
Oh, mother dear, did you not know?
6. In comes Father, the door he broke
And found his daughter upon a rope;
He took a knife and cut her down,
And on her breast these words he found:
7. Go dig me a grave both wide and deep,
Put marble stones to my head and feet
And on my heart a turtle dove
To show the world I died for love.