Kelly's Love- Anon (MS) 1911 Howard Odum
[From "Folk song and Folk-poetry as found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes" by Howard Odum; The Journal of American Folk-lore No. 43, 1911.
"Kelly's" is an obvious mishearing of "Careless."
R. Matteson 2017]
42. Kelly's Love. In "Kelly's Love" the note of disappointed love is sounded:
|: Love, Kelly's love, :| (three times)
You broke de heart o' many a girl,
You never break dis heart o' mine.
|: When I wo' my aprons low, : | (three times)
Couldn't keep you from my do'.
|: Now I weahs my aprons high, :| (three times)
Sca'cely ever see you passin' by.
|: Now I weahs my aprons to my chin, :| (three times)
You pass my do', but can't come in.
|: See what Kelly's love have done. :| (three times)
See what Kelly's love have done.
|: If I had listened to what my mamma said, :| (three times)
I would a been at home in mamma's bed.