The Two Brothers- McDonald Ark. 1910 Randolph D
[Fragment from Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs; 1946, Vol. I- British Ballads and Songs, with music. Randolph's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
10. THE TWO BROTHERS
The ballad of "The Two Brothers" was long ago reported and discussed by Child (English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 1882-1893, No. 49), and many American variants have been recovered. See Pound (American Ballads and Songs, 1922, p. 45), Tolman (JAFL 29, 1916, p. 158), Kittredge (JAFL 30, I9I7, p. 294), McGill (Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, 1917, p.54), Campbell and Sharp (English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917, No. 11), Cox (Folk-Songs of the South, 1925, p. 33), Davis (Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929, p. 146), Kirkland (Southern Folklore Quarterly 2, 1938, p. 65), Chappell (Folk-Songs of Roanoke and the Albemarle, L939, p. 17), Eddy (Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939, pp. 26-28), Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England, 1939, p. 278), Treat (JAFL 52, 1939, p. 35), Belden (Ballads and Songs, 1940, pp. 33-34), Brewster (Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940, pp. 55-57), and Morris (Southern Folklore Quarterly 8, 1944, p. 121). It appears also in the forthcoming Brown (North Carolina Folk-Lore Society) collection.
D. The Two Brothers- Sung by Mrs. H. L. McDonald of Farmington, Ark. on Feb. 10, 1942. Part of a long ballad heard as a child in 1910. Randolph D
[music]
If you meet my father as you turn to go home,
He will ask you where is John,
You may tell him he's gone to the new book-store,
To bring his new books home.