The Highwayman- Asa Martin (KY) 1972 REC Meade
[From the CD, Meeting's a Pleasure; Folk-songs of the Upper South- Volume 2. Musical Traditions Records' 2007 (MTCD343-4). Their notes follow.
All versions of the Highwayman after 1926 may have come from Poole or a similar source which would be Poole's source also. The version clearly pre-dates Poole, who didn't write it- he just learned it. For a different KY version see the Blue Sky Boys, "Poor Boy."
In the notes below it doesn't mention that Martin recorded this in 1933 as "Hang Your Head Down and Cry." See that version under 1933.
R. Matteson 2015]
8. The Highwayman - Asa Martin, vocal and guitar; Jim Gaskin, second guitar. (Rec: Mark Wilson and Gus Meade, Irvine, Ky, Fall, 1972). Mixture of Child 95 and Laws I4. Asa almost certainly acquired this odd blending of Hangman, Slack Your Rope and parts of As I Sat Down to Play Coon Can (Roud 114) from Charlie Poole's Columbia recording (Co 15260; reissued on Columbia Legacy), for the texts are virtually identical. Asa's unusual parlor guitar setting is his own, however. When American traditional musicians claim to 'have written songs', they have often framed a composite through juxtaposition, for some conservatism about wholesale textual innovation seems to inhibit most rural singers. Surprisingly, Poole recorded a more orthodox Hangman, Hangman, Slack the Rope a few years later (Co 15385).
The Highwayman- Asa Martin
I went down to the old depot to see that train go by
Thought I saw that woman I love, hang down her head and cry.
The night was dark and stormy and it surely looked like rain
Not a friend this wide world o'er and no one knew my name.
"Wait, Mister Judge, wait, Mister Judge, just wait a little while
I think I see that woman I love, and she's walked for miles and miles."
"Dear girl, have you brought me silver, or have you brought me gold?
Have you walked these long, long miles to see me from the hangman's pole?"
She walked up to that scaffold, she untied my hands,
Whispered low in the hangman's ear, "I love this highway man."
"I love this highway man, poor girl, I love this highway man,"
She whispered low in the hangman's ear, "I love this highway man."