The Cruel Mother- Keesee (VA) 1932 Davis AA
[From Davis; More Traditional Ballads from Virginia, 1960. Davis's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
So condensed is the present text that it may not be clear that the babes are ghosts. The antecedent folklore detail of the mother's binding of the hands and feet of the babes so as to prevent their ghosts from walking, found in several Child texts (C, F, H, I) and in some American texts (see Cox B, p. 30; Sharp-Karpeles A, F, G, Vol. I, 56, 59; etc.), does not appear it the present text or in any other Virginia text. (See Wimberly, pp. 254-55:) The Virginia version is not so detailed about the mother's punishment as some texts, but it does predict hell for her after a normal folklore period of "seven long years on earth."
Bronson (I, 270-90) has brought together a total of fifty-six tunes (with texts), and comments: "For the number of beautiful
melodic variation, on a basically constant rhythmic pattern, this ballad is exceptional. The binding element of the rhythmical design appears to have been the interlaced refrain at the second and fourth lines." He divides the tunes into five groups, which can only be satisfactorily distinguished by detailed musical technicalities not to be repeated here. But Group A, with twenty-two members, contains some of the oldest copies, as well as recent ones that are Scottish, English, and American; Group B, with eleven variants, contains some good nineteenth- and twentieth-century copies; Group C, with fifteen entries, mostly from America, is predominantly major, but plagal; Group D, contains only two related variants in triple time; and Group E "a group only by courtesy"' contains the misfits and leftovers. All four TBVa tunes Bronson classifies in his Group E, though he finds one of the four (TBVa B) not a strict conformer to the demands of the group.
AA. "The Cruel Mother." Phonograph record (aluminum) made by Mr. A. K. Davis, Jr. Sung by Abner Keesee, of Altavista, Va. Campbell County. August 4, 1932. Text transcribed by P. C. Worthington. Tune noted by Winston Wilkinson. "A fine tune, with a wide pitch range and interesting structure" (E. C. Mead).
THE CRUEL MOTHER
One day I was sitting in my father's hall,
All day long and I love thee O,
I saw three babes a-playing their ball,
Down by the greenwood sidie O.
One was dressed in scarlet fine,
All day long and I love thee O,
The other two were just like they was born,
Down by the greenwood sidie O.
"O little babes, if you was mine,
All day long and I love thee O,
I'd dress you up in scarlet fine,
Down by the greenwood sidie O."
One was dressed in scarlet fine,
All day long and I love thee O,
The other two was just like they was born,
Down by the greenwood sidie O.
"O little babes, if you can tell,
All day long and I love thee O,
How long on earth am I to dwell,
Down by the greenwood sidie O ?"
"Seven long years on earth you'll dwell,
All day long and I love thee O,
The balance of your time you will spend it in hell,
Down by the greenwood sidie O."