Sweet Willie- Brown (NC) c.1920 Brown C
[From Brown Collection of NC Folklore; Vol. 2, 1952. Maud Minnish Sutton collected ballad in the early 1920s.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
C. 'Sweet Willie.' Reported by Mrs. Sutton from the singing of Mrs. Brown of Beech Mountain, Watauga county. Not dated, but secured probably about 1920. The language is puzzling in places. [See music below]
1 Sweet Willie he arose one morning in May,
He dressed himself in blue.
'Come tell unto me this whole long love
Betwixt Lillie Margret and me.'[1]
2 'I know no harm of Lillie Margret
And she knows none of me;
And on tomorrow's morn, before eight o'clock,
Lillie Margret a bride shall see.'
3 He mounted his horse, he rode with speed,
He rode till he came to the door.
There was nobody there for to let him in
But his own dear brother John.
4 'Where is Lillie Margret? Is she in her dining room?
Is she in her hall?
Or is she in her bed-chamber?
Come tell unto me I call.'
5 'She is not in her dining room,
She is at home.
For she is in her own coffin
Which sits agin the wall.'
6 'Unwrap, unwrap the winding sheet
And lay the fine linen.
That I may kiss her cold clay lips
As ofttimes she's kissed mine.'
7 The first that he kissed was her revely[2] cheek.
The next that he kissed was her chin.
But the last of all was her cold clay lips
That had no breath in them.
1. The opening dialogue, found in a good many texts, is between William and Margaret's father. It is clear in Child's B but becomes obscure in many traditional texts. Here "me" should of course be "you."
2. See note on this word in 'The Lass of Roch Royal' B, stanza 15, below. [Brewster suggests the word may be "Raddled" a form of "Raddledy."]
Music: C. 'Sweet Willie.' Sung by Mrs. Brown. Procured by Mrs. Sutton at Beech Mountain, Watauga county. No date.
For melodic relationship cf. **SharpK i 139, No. 20E; *BBM 134. Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center : c. Structure : mm1n (2,2,4) = barform.