Oh, Molly Dear- Kelly Harrell (VA) 1926 REC
[Transcription of Kelly Harrell 'O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother' recorded 9 June 1926 in New York City. Issued as Victor 20280 December 1926. Reissued on Kelly Harrell 'Complete Recorded Works Vol I (1925-1926) Document DOCD-8026.
Hybrid version with stanzas of other songs; mostly East Virginia (Blues).
R. Matteson 2016]
O! MOLLY DEAR GO ASK YOUR MOTHER- As sung by Kelly Harrell of Draper's Valley, Wythe County, Virginia.
Wake up, wake up, you drowsy sleeper
Wake up, wake up, for it's almost day
How can you stand to sleep and slumber
When your true lover's going away
Once I lived in old Virginia
To North Carolina I did go
There I spied a nice young lady
Oh her name I did not know
Her hair was black and her eyes was sparkling
And on her cheeks were diamonds red
And on her breast she wore a lily
Oh/o'er the tears that I did shed
When I'm asleep I'm dreaming about her
When I'm awake I see no rest
Every moment seems like an hour
Oh the pains that cross my breast
Oh Molly dear, go ask your mother
If you my bride can ever be
If she says no, come back and tell me
And I no more will trouble thee
Oh no, I'll not go ask my mother
For she lies on her bed at rest
And in one hand she holds a dagger
To kill the man that I love best