Loving Henery- (TN) Crabtree 1936
[No informant, specific place or date named. From "Songs and Ballads Sung in Overton County, Tennessee: A Collection" by Lillian Crabtree, 1936, 316 pages long. It was her Master's thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers in 1936, which resulted in the texts of 323 songs and ballads, without music.
R. Matteson 2014]
LOVING HENERY
"Come in, come in, loving Henery," she said,
"Come in, stay all night with me.
And it is these costly jewels I'll pull off,
And I'll give them all to thee."
I couldn't come in, [1]
And stay all night with you.
For the girl I left in Arkansas land,
Thinks I'm a long time coming home."
They stood all by the pathway,
A-kissing, oh, so sweet.
With a little pen knife she held in her hand,
She pierced Henery to the heart.
"Live on, live on, loving Henery,
Live on forever more.
And the girl you left in Arkansas land,
Think [you're] a long time coming home."
"Oh its how can I live anymore,
When my own heart blood
Is trickling at my feet,
And breath is very short?
Some take him by the lily-white hand
Some take him by the feet.
They carried him down to the riverside,
And they plunged him into the deep.
"Lie there, lie there Loving Henery," she said,
"Lie there, till I tell you to rise,
And the girl you left in Arkansas land,
Think [you're] a long time coming home."
"Come down, come down, little parrot bird," [she said,]
"Come down and settle on my thumb.
And your cage it shall be of yellow and gold bark,
And the doors of ivory."
"I can't come down, [2]
[And] settle on your thumb,
For you know you murdered your own true love,
And you know you might murder me."
1. I couldn't come in, [and I won't come in],
2. I can't come down, [and I won't come down],