The Three Ravens- W.T. Davis (Va.) c. 1871 Davis C
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads from Virginia, 1929 p. 137-145. Davis's notes follow. Goochland, then Henrico County was developed in the 1600s and is located on the northern side of the James River. Another ballad family, the Hicks family, settled there on Tuckahoe Creek before moving to North Carolina in the 1770s.
R. Matteson 2014]
10. THE THREE RAVENS
(Child, No. 26)
IN Virginia "The Three Ravens" have become "The Three Crows," som€etimes "The Two Crows." The Virginia variants, though they may differ in many resp€ects, both as to words and tune, are sufficiently alike to prove a similar origin. They lack at once the tenderness of the English "The Three Ravens" and the cynicism of the Scottish "The Twa Corbies." Their verbal resemblance with the Child texts ceases after the first two stanzas, and in spirit they are far removed from the human drama, touching or cynical, of the Child counterparts. Human actors have been entirely eliminated. "The Three Crows " is usually a comic animal song, which lends itself rather easily to improvisation and even parody. Two interesting civil war parodies are given as appendices to the ballad. C is a good example of comic addition to the old ballad. Minor variations in the several texts are exceedingly interesting.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 27; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin 4,5, 7-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 10 (Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs,II, No. 5); Cox No. 6, and p. 522 (melody); Heart Songs, p. 485 Hudson, No. 5 (Mississippi); Jones, p. 301; Journal XX, 154 (Beatty, Wisconsin), 273 (Tatlock, Ohio); for additional references see Cox, p. 31, Journal, XXXI, 273.
C. "The Three Ravens." Collected by Mr. John Stone. sung by Mr. W. T. Davis, of Goochland. C. H. Va. Goochland County. June 29, 1921. Mr. Stone writes that Mr. Davis got it fifty age from a music teacher named Morrison.
1. There were three crows upon a tree
And they were black as crows could be. Skubaugh[1].
Chorus: They all flew down upon a limb.
They flapped their wings and cried,
Caw, caw, caw. Skubaugh, Skubaugh.
2 Said one black crow unto his son,
"Before I'd die, I'd always run." Skubaugh.
3 Said one black crow unto his sister,
"Does mustard always draw a blister. skubaugh.
4 Said one black crow unto his aunt,
"Sometimes it can, sometimes it can't." Skubaugh.
5 Said one black crow unto his brother-in-law,
"Please give me a tobacco chaw. Skubaugh.
6 "There is a horse on yonders plain
That very lately has been slain." Skubaugh.
7 "We'll sit upon his old backbone
And pick his eyes out one by one." Skubaugh.
1. The Virginia mountain form of usguebaugh. "Distilled spirit made by the Celtic people of the British Islands, originally from barley. In some sense the term is still used in Scotland for malt whiskey" (The Dictionary and cyclopedia).