Silver Dagger- Mrs. York (NC) c.1939 Brown D1
[Fragment from: The Brown Collection, Volume 4, 1956. Their notes follow. This is a version of the composed ballad, a traditional version was published in 1849 in NY in Spirit of the Times as sung by "Sal Jenkins." The original has not been found but it would have been printed around 1810. The B version in the Brown Collection is dated 1838.
R. Matteson 2016]
72. The Silver Dagger
Something of a favorite in the South and West, this ballad seems not to be found in New England tradition. See BSM 123, and add to the references there given Virginia (FSV 57-9), Florida (SFLQ VIII 185-6), Missouri (OFS 11 52-8), Ohio (BSO 92-4, in combination with 'The Drowsy Sleeper'), Indiana (BSI 21 1-4), Illinois (JAFL lx 218-9), and Michigan (BSSM 89-90). Mrs. Steely found it in the Ebenezer community in Wake county. Since the texts, though less or more complete, all tell the same simple story, only one, the fullest, is given complete here.
Listen: http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/c32806bb55513be2d5305bc36f0720ca.mp3
D1. 'The Silver Dagger.' Sung by Mrs. James York. From the previous recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams, probably at Boone; no date given.
[music upcoming]
For melodic relationship cf. *SharpK 11 229, No. 165A, only in general outline. Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: aa1bbi (2,222) =ab (4,4).
1. Young ladies, young ladies come lend your attention,
To these few lines I'm about to write,
There was a young man courting a fair young maiden
Who was his joy and his heart's delight.
2 And when his[1] parents came to know it
They pled with him both night and day.
Saying, 'Will you forsake your loving father?
She's so very poor, I've heard them say.'
3 And she being near beneath her window,
She heard that awful, mournful groan.
She run and she run like one distracted,
Saying, 'I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm left alone.'
1. sings "her" but it should be "his."