The Gallows Tree- Walter (NC) pre1943 Brown 4C
[Single stanza with music. From the Brown Collection of NC Folklore, IV, 1956 music. Brown II notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
For preceding records of this ballad and its relation to theories of communal origin, see BSM 66, adding to the references there given New Hampshire (NGMS 117-18), Kentucky (BTFLS in 95), Tennessee (SFLQ XI 129-30), North Carolina (FSRA 35-6), Florida (FSF 295-9), Arkansas (OFS I 146-8), Missouri (OFS I 143-4, 145), Ohio (BSO 62-4), Indiana (BSI 125-7), and Michigan (BSSM 146-8 — this last being the "golden ball" form, rare in this country). In only half of the North Carolina texts is it a woman that waits to be freed from the gallows ; in versions B C E K L it is a man, and in D the sex is indeterminate. D is the only one of our texts in which the song has been turned into a play.
4 C. 'The Gallows Tree.' Sung by Mrs. Walter. Recorded as ms score; no date or place given. Measures 2 and 6 are practically the same as in 30-O.
For melodic relationship cf. *FSSH 95, version A, melodic outline only. Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abab1 (2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,4).