Lowe Bonnie- Jimmie Tarlton (SC) 1930 Recording
[From Darby and Tarlton The Complete Recordings of Darby & Tarlton, Bear Family BCD 15764 CI. Also Columbia recording 15763-D.
Below are two transcriptions, the second is more accurate. You can listen to the recording- click the link. The "Lowe" in this ballad clearly should be "Lord" as found in a very similar text from the Brown Collection which was sung by James York, Olin, Iredell County, N.C., in 1939. Below are Ed Kahn's notes.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
This is a transcript from the Ed Kahn notes to The Complete Recordings of Darby & Tarlton, Bear Family BCD 15764 CI. Jimmie recorded it without his usual partner, Tom Darby, on December 3, 1930. This is one of the oldest songs in Jimmie's repertoire, having its roots in an old English ballad commonly known as Young Hunting (Child #68). While Jimmie's version is much abbreviated from some of the longer texts that have been collected on both sides of the Atlantic, it is one of only two versions to have been recorded by hillbilly artists. Jimmie learned this ballad from his mother, Daisy, who learned it from her grandmother. Daisy died in 1917, so Jimmie believes that his version of the ballad goes back several hundred years. While the text is old, Jimmie chose not to use the tune he got from his mother for this recording. He told Norm Cohen that he did not want Tom (Darby) to learn the real tune. Instead, he borrowed the tune from The Drunkard's Dream. In later years, he began to sing the original tune again, feeling that it was more beautiful than the one he had used for his Columbia recording. [Mudcat discussion forum]
Lowe Bonnie [transcript from the Ed Kahn]
Listen: Jimmie Tarlton 1930
Lowe Bonnie, Lowe Bonnie, was a hunting young man
And a-hunting he did ride
With his hunting horn slung around his neck
And his broadsword by his side
He hunted 'til he came to his old true love
In a lightning he tangled at his reins
No one was ready but his old true love
To lay right and say, "Call in!"
"Call in, call in, Lowe Bonnie," she cried
"And stay all night with me
A burning fire which you shall receive
And a drink a' white chocolate cake."
Says, "I will call in and I will set down
But I haven't got a moment to stay
There's one little girl in this whole round town
That I love better than thee-ee."
Oh, it's while he was sitting all on her lap
He was kissing her so sweet
A little pen knife was so keen and sharp
She wounded him so deep
"Don't die, don't die, Lowe Bonnie," she cried
"Don't die, don't die so soon
I sent for the doctors in the whole round town
No one can heal your wound."
'How can I live, how can I live
You've wounded me so deep
I think I feel my own heart's blood
A-dropping on my feet."
LOWE BONNIE (Transcription Bronson)
Sung by Jimmie Tarlton, Columbia rec., No. 15763-D (151002).
Listen: Jimmie Tarlton 1930
Lowe Bonnie, Lowe Bonnie was a hunting young man
An' a-hunting he did ride
With his hunting horn slung around his neck
An' his broadsword by his side.
He hunted till he came to his own true love
An' a-lightly he tingled at his ring
No one was so ready but his old true love
To rise and say, Call in.
Call in, call in, Lowe Bonnie, she cried
An' stay all night with me
A burning porridge you shall receive
An' a drink o' white chocolate tea.
Yes I will come in, and I will sit down
But I haven't got a moment to stay
There's one more girl in this whole round town
That I love better than thee.
O it's while he was sitting all on her lap
He was kissing her so sweet
A little pen knife was so keen and sharp
She wounded him so deep.
Don't die, don't die, Lowe Bonnie, she cried
Don't die, don't die so soon
I'll send for the doctors in the whole round town
Some one can heal your wound.
How can I live, how can I live
You've wounded me so deep
I think I feel my own heart's blood
A-dropping o'er my feet.
Notes from Malcolm Douglas: That "white chocolate tea" business also comes up in Bronson 68.9, a set sung by James York, Olin, Iredell County, N.C., in 1939 (Schinhan, Music, Brown Collection, IV, 1957, p 29; text, Belden and Hudson, Folk Ballads, Brown Collection, II, 1952, p 67):
Come in , come in, Lord Bonnie, she cried,
And stay the night with me.
A rounding* fire you shall have
And a cup of white chalk tea.
*Belden commented: "One supposes that this should be 'rousing'. But what is white chalk tea?"
The two versions are quite close textually, though Mr York's is longer.
X:1
T:Lowe Bonnie
T:Young Hunting
S:Jimmie Tarlton
B:Bronson II, 68.43, p 82
N:Columbia rec., No. 15763-D (151002)
N:Child 68 Roud 48
N:I/M (inflected II)
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:C
G2|B2 B2 B2|^A2 A2 AA|B B3 B2|B4 BB|
w:Lowe Bon-nie, Lowe Bon-nie was a hunt-ing young man An' a-
d4 d2|c2 d2 e2|d6-|d4 dd|
w:hunt-ing he_ did ride_ With his
g4 g2|"(a)" e4 cc|e2 d4|G4 DD|
w:hunt-ing horn slung a-round his neck An' his
B4 c2|B4 A2|G6-|G4|]
w:broad-sword by his side._