The Gallows Tree- Bentley Ball (OH-NY) 1920 REC
[From Columbia recording A3084, early 1920 in NYC by (Walter) sung by baritone Bentley Ball.
Listen: http://jopiepopie.blogspot.com/2015/06/gallows-tree-1920-maid-freed-from.html
Concert and college-circuit baritone Bentley Ball was the first to record "Maid Freed". He called it a North Carolina minstrel song, and according to a clip on WFMU, Ball collected songs when he traveled around rural states selling typewriters. A NYC program from 1920 follows.
A bio from an online chart gives this info: Walter Bentley Ball was born on February 2, 1878 in Ohio. He was the son of Bentley E. Ball and Mary Margaret Curtis. Walter Bentley Ball married May Foley circa 1911. Ball died on August 1957 13 at age 79. He was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery, Newark, Licking Co., OH.
R. Matteson 2015]
The Song-A-Logue of America will be presented by Bentley Ball, baritone of New York, at the University Auditorium at 8:15 o'clock tomorrow evening. This program was to have been given last Thursday evening but was postponed because of the University convocation. The admission will be free. Mr. Ball will give a unique recital, nothing like it having been given on the concert stage before. It is a program of songs and ballads containing all of the elemental drama of America's early settlers. The program is being given under the auspices of the School of Music. The program follows The Indian Tribal Prayer, Omaha; Love Call, Iroquois; Two Songs from Hiawatha Ojibway. The Pioneer- The Gallows Tree , Kentucky Mountains; Bangum and the Boar , Kentucky Mountains ; A barnyard song , Kentucky Mountains . The Cowboy- Jessie James , The Dying Cowboy . The Negro- Go Down Moses , Spiritual ; Peter Go Ring Dem Bells , Spiritual; Ise Gwine to Alabamy , Occupation Songs . The Negro Minstrelsy-”De Little Old Log Cabin in de Lane , Old Dan Tucker , Carry Me Back To Old Virginy.
"Gallows Tree"- As sung by Bentley Ball, 1920.
Hangman, hangman, hold off your rope, oh, hold it for a while;
I looked over yonder and I see paw coming, he's walked for many a long mile.
Say paw, say paw, have you brung along some gold, some gold for to set me free?
Or have you come for to see me hung, beneath the Gallows Tree.
No son, no son, I brung along no gold, No gold for to set you free,
I only come for to see you hung, beneath the Gallows Tree.
Hangman, hangman, hold off your rope, oh, hold it for a while;
I looked over yonder and I see ma coming, she's walked for many a long mile.
Say ma, say ma, have you brung along some gold, some gold for to set me free?
Or have you come for to see me hung, beneath the Gallows Tree.
No son, no son, I brung along no gold, No gold for to set you free,
I only come for to see you hung, beneath the Gallows Tree.
Hangman, hangman, hold off your rope, oh, hold it for a while;
I looked over yonder and I see my sweetheart coming, she's walked for many a long mile.
Sweetheart, sweetheart, have you brung along some gold, some gold for to set me free?
Or have you come for to see me hung, beneath the Gallows Tree.
Yes boy, yes boy, I brung along some gold, Some gold for to set you free,
And I have yet come for to take you home, home from the Gallows Tree.