The Brown Girl- Collier (VA) pre1936 Scarborough A
[From: A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains; Scarborough 1937. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
I captured three versions in and near Pirkey, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville. Mrs. Piny Knight recalled snatches of it, not enough to amount to much, but she said that she had sung it when she was a girl. Mrs. Evelyn Collier, of Roach's Run, sang an incomplete ballad, which she had learned from her father, now almost ninety years old. He sat beside her and together they pieced out the following:
A. The Brown Girl- Collier (Pirkey, VA) pre1936 Scarborough A;
Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas, the brave young soldier,
The captain of them all,
Fair Ellen, fair Ellen, the beautiful damsel,
Lord Thomas loved them all.
He asked his kind old mother
Which girl he must bring home.
If I must charge you with all my heart
Go bring the Brown Girl home.
The Brown Girl she has house and lands,
Fair Ellen, she has none.
If I must charge you with all my heart,
Go bring the Brown Girl home.
He called for his bridle, he called for his saddle,
He called for his milk-white steed.
He rode till he came to Fair Ellen's home
And loudly tapped and called.
Good news, good news, to you, Fair Ellen,
Good news, good news to you.
I've come to invite you to my wedding,
And isn't that good news to you?
She dressed herself in scarlet red,
Her riding skirt was green,
And every town that she rode through
They took her to be some queen.