The Green Willow Tree- (KY) pre1911 Combs

The Green Willow Tree- (KY) pre1911 Combs

[This first verse was included in Combs first book, A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-songs, by Hubert Gibson Shearin and Josiah Henry Combs. This book, published in 1911, shows the folk/old-time /bluegrass songs that were circulating in Kentucky. Since the authors took some time to compile this information we can deduce that most the songs listed here date to the 1800s at least. In Kentucky this ballad was well-known and frequently collected.

R. Matteson 2014]


The Green Willow Tree, metre as below, 11: A variant of The Golden Vanitee, Child, No. 286.

There was a ship sailed for the North Amerikee,  
From down in the lonesome Lowlands low—  
There was a ship sailed for the North Amerikee,  
And she went by the name of the Green Willow Tree,  
And she sailed from the Lowlands low.