Simply A Flirt [Sinful to Flirt] Goodbye to Friends and Home
[This is incorrectly titled and the 1925 version by Riley Puckett (of Skillet Licker fame) is similarly titled- "It's Simple to Flirt." Usually it's "Sinful to Flirt," or "Goodbye to Friends and Home" (Scroggins- 1929). This is written from the male viewpoint. See below a version written from the female viewpoint that was collected by my grandfather c. 1934.
R. Matteson 2014]
Simply A Flirt (Sinful to Flirt)
They tell me I don't love her,
They say that my heart is of stone;
They tell me to speak to her kindly,
Or else leave the poor girl alone.
Now often she has told me
That she loved me more dearer than life.
And often she has told me,
That she would be my dear wife.
Teardrops would fall from her eyes,
When I told her I'd have to say no.
"oh Darling, how can you say so?
Is your poor heart made of stone?
They tell me she is too young,
But I'm sure she's much older than me,
But if they would leave us alone,
I'm sure we'd much happier be.
Next morning my sweetheart was dead,
A letter was placed by her side.
These words she wrote upon it,
'Good-bye my Darling, Good-bye."
Oh Mother, I've always loved her,
But now she's dead and gone,
I can never live without her,
Good-bye to friends and home.
Oh mother, place her picture,
Upon my dead broken heart
in life we've been together,
And in death we will not part.
_________________
Sinful to Flirt (Nathan Hicks- Beach Mountain NC 1934, Collected by Maurice Matteson)
Oh, they say it is sinful to flirt,
Oh, they say that my heart is made of stone;
Oh, they say to speak to him kindly,
Or else leave the poor boy alone.
Oh, they say he is only a boy,
But I am sure he is much older than me,
And if they would leave us alone,
I'm sure much happier we would be.
I remember the night when he said,
That he loved me far more than his life,
He kissed me and called me his pet,
And asked me to be his wife.
"Oh Willie," I said with a smile,
"I am sure that I'll have to say no."
He took my hand for a while,
And said, "Goodbye, I must go."
"Oh darling," I said, "I am sure,
Your heart is made of stone."
He took a white rose from my hair,
And left me standing there.
Next morning poor Willie was dead,
He was drowned in a pond by the mill.
In the pure blessed water so fair,
That flows from the banks of the hill.
His eyes were forever closed,
And damp was his bright golden hair,
And close to his pale lips he held,
The white rose he took from my hair.
Oh Willie, my darling come back,
I will ever be faithful to you;
Oh Willie, my darling come back,
I will ever be faithful and true.