Sweet William- Mrs. Davis (TN-OH) 1939 Eddy E
[My title, none given. From ballads and Songs from Ohio by Mary Eddy, 1939. Her notes follow. Most of these versions were collected in the 1920s or earlier. The A version, for example, was published in 1922,
R. Matteson 2017]
This fragment, communicated to me from Mrs. Davis by Mrs. Cloyd Timanus of Perrysville, Ohio, is quite likely a Tennessee version, for Mrs. Davis's mother came from the western part of that state.
E. [Sweet William] From Mrs. Lawrence Davis, Perrysville, Ohio.
1. "Oh, father, father, go build me a boat,
To the end of the ocean I may float;
. . . .
She cast her sails and away she flew.
2. . .
She met a captain coming from Japan;
"Oh, captain, captain, tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail with you?"
3. "No, kind miss, he is not here,
He got shot in the war, my dear."
She run her hands all through her hair
Like some lady in despair.
4. . . .
Saying, "If he'll return to me
It will give me joy,
For none will I have but my Willie boy."
5. "Go, get me a stool to sit upon,
With paper and pen to write words on;
For if he is not alive
Now is my time to die.
6. "And upon my grave place a snow-white dove
To show the world I died for love,
And on my breast place a hickory limb
To show the world I died for him."