Lovin' Henry- Lamb and Rowe (KY) 1949 Roberts
[From In the Pines; Roberts, 1978.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Lovin' Henry- Sung by Florence Lamb and Mary Rowe (Pike County, KY) 1949.
1. "Look down, look down, Loving Henry," she said,
And stay all night with me,
Your bed shall be made of diamonds of gold,
And your doors of ivory
And your doors of ivory.
2. I can't get down nor I shan't get down,
Nor I won't stay all night with thee,
For I have another girl in the ivy cliff
And tonight she's a-lookin for me.
And tonight she's a-looking for me.,
3. He leaned over from his saddle stirrup
For to kiss her snow white cheek,
And in her hand she held an awful knife
And she stobbed him both wide and deep,
And she stobbed him both wide and deep.
4. O shall I ride east or shall I ride west,
Or anyways under the sun
To bring a doctor here
For to cure this wounded one,
Far to cure this wounded one.
5. You needn't to ride east,
You needn't to ride west,
Nor no ways under the sun,
There's just one good God above us all
That can cure this wounded one,
That can cure this wounded one.
6. He gave a few more dying groans,
Said, Little girl, you've treated me wrong,
I'm going to a better world
Where you can never come,
Where you can never come.
7. She took him by his brown curly locks,
And her sister by his feet,
They carried him down to the deep stonewall well
Where the water was so cold and deep,
Where the water was so cold and deep.
8. Lay there, lay there, Lovin Henry, she cried,
Till the meat drops off of your bones,
For that girl that you have in the ivy cliff
Thinks you're a long time comin' home,
Thinks you're a long time comin home.
9. As she return-ed to go back home,
A little bird set on a limb,
Said, Go home, go home, you cruel-hearted girl,
There's another boy for thee,
There's another.boy for thee.
10. Fly down, fly home, you purty little bird,
And rest upon my knee,
Your cage shall be made of yaller-beaten gold,
And hung on a willow tree,
And hung on a willow tree.
11. I can't fly down, nor I shan't fly down,
Nor I won't rest upon your knee,
For you just have murdered your old truelove
And perhaps you'll murder me,
And perhaps you'll murder me.
12 Said, If I had my cedar bow,
My arrow and my string,
I'd shoot you right through the heart,
And no more would you sit there and sing,
And no more would you sit there and sing.
13. If you had your cedar bow,
Your arrow and your string,
I would fly to the top of some tall tree,
And there I would sit and sing
And there I would sit and sing.