Slack Your Rope- Caldwell (WV) 1928 Cox II
[From: Traditional Ballads & Folk Songs Mainly from West Virginia- John Harrington Cox- 1939 Edited by George Herzog and Herbert Halpert 1939 and George Boswell, 1964. With music.
R. Matteson 2015]
9. SLACK YOUR ROPE - Communicated by Miss Elizabeth Aileen Hatfield, Logan, Logan County, January 18, 1928. Obtained from Miss Nell Caldwell. Music noted by Miss Hatfield.
"Hangman, hangman, slack your rope,
Slack it for awhile;
Slack it till my mother comes,
She's coming a many a mile."
"O mother, O mother, did you bring me any gold,
For to pay my fine?
Or did you come to see me hung,
Hung down the gallows line?"
"O no, O no, I brought you no gold,
For to pay your fine;
I really come to see you hung,
Hung down the gallows line."
Repeat the triad, substituting for the word mother the words father, brother, sister and sweetheart
"O yes, O yes, I brought you some gold,
For to pay your fine;
I did not come to see you hung,
Hung down the gallows line.
See NC II L4.