The Two Sisters- Sung by Mr. Wesley Batter, Mount Fair, Abermarle Co., Virginia Sept 22, 1916 - Sharp Version B; Davis F
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp/Campbell 1916; also Sharp/Karpeles 1932, version B. Also reprinted in Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929, version F. Sharp's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
Notes from Sharp 1917: No. 4. The Two Sisters
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 10.
Texts with tunes:—Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i., pp. 40 and 42. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i., 253, and ii., 282. English County Songs, p. 118. Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 61. Child, v., pp. 411 and 412 (three tunes). "Binnorie," arranged
by Dr. Arthur Somervell. American variants:—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii, 130 (with tune); xviii, 130 (without tune); xix, 233.
The Two Sisters- Sung by Mr. Wesley Batter, Mount Fair, Abermarle Co., Virginia Sept 22, 1916 (B)
Heptatonic Mode 4, a+b (dorian) * The B's and F's were ordinarily sung as written; but singer occasionally sharped them.
1. There lived an old lady in the north country,
Bow down.
There lived an old lady in the north country,
The bough has been* to me down.
There lived an old lady in the north country,
She has daughters one, two three,
True to me love, love my love be true to me.
2 There came a young man a-courting there,
And he made the choice of the youngest there.
3 He made her a present of a beaver's hat,
The oldest thought a heap of that.
4 O sister, O sister, just walk out
To see those vessels a-sailing about.
5 The oldest pushed the youngest in,
She did struggle and she did swim.
6 O sister, O sister, give me your hand,
And I will give you my house and land.
7 I will not give you my hand,
But I will marry that young man.
8 The miller picked up his drab hook,
And then he fished her out of the brook.
9 The miller got her golden ring,
The miller pushed her back again.
10 The miller was hung at his mill gate
For drownding my poor sister Kate.
*bent