True Lover of Mine- Mitchell (NC) 1918 Sharp B
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; 1932 edition Sharp and Karpeles; My title, Sharp used generic "The Elfin Knight." Sharps notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
No. 1. The Elfin Knight.
Texts without tunes:—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 2. S. Baring-Gould's Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes, p. 3. R. P. Gray's Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks, p. 78. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xiii. 120;
xix. 130; xxiii. 430; xxvi. 174. Texts with tunes :—Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 79. Kidson's Traditional Tunes, pp. 43 and 172. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 1. Folk-Songs of England, Book III, p. 21. C. Sharp's Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 64. C. Sharp's English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), vol. ii, p. 52. Songs of the West, 2nd ed., No. 96. Lucy Broadwood and Fuller Maitland's English County Songs, p. 12. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 83 ; ii. 212; iii. 274. Journal of American Folk-Lore, vii, 228 ; xviii. 49 and 212 ; xxx. 283. British Ballads from Maine, p. 3.
B. [True Lover of Mine]- Sung by Mrs. POLLY MITCHELL at Burnsville, N.C., Sept. 22, 1918
1. I saw a young lady walking all out,
A- walking all out in the yonders green field.
So sav'ry was said come marry in time,
And she shall be a true lover of mine.
2. So tell that young lady to buy me a new cambric shirt,
And make it without needles or yet needles' work.
So sav'ry, etc.
3 So tell that young lady to wash it all out,
And wash it all out in yonders well,
Where never was water nor rain never fell.
4 So tell that young lady to deemens her work,
And bring on my new cambric shirt.
5 I saw a young man a-walking all out,
A-walking all out in the yonders green field,
So sav'ry was said come marry in time,
And he shall be a true lover of mine.
6 So tell that young man to buy me an acre of land,
Betwixt the sea and the sun.
So sav'ry, etc.
And he shall be, etc.
7 So tell that young man to sow it all down,
And sow it all down in pepper and corn.
8 So tell that young man to plough it all in,
And plough it all in with that little ram's horn.
9 So tell that young man to haul it all in,
And haul it all in on a chee-chicken feather.
10 So tell that young man to crib it all in,
And crib it all in a little mouse's hole.
11 So tell that young man to thresh it all out,
And thrash it all out in the corner of the house,
On the peril of his life to not lose a grain.
12 Go tell that young man to deemens his work
For to bring on the pepper and corn.
--------------
X:48
T:The Elfin Knight
B:Bronson
C:Trad
O:Sharp MSS., 466I/3244. Also in Sharp and Karpeles, I932
O:I, p. 2. Sung by Mrs. Polly Mitchell, Burnsville, N.C.,
O:September 22, 19I8.
N:Child 2
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Gmix % Pentatonic ( -4 -7) Lydian/Ionian/Mixolydian [Pi 1]
G | GAB GGG | Gdg e2 e |
w:I saw a young la-dy a-walk-ing all out, A
edB d2 B/B/ | BAB G2 G | GAB G2 G |
w:walk-ing all out in the yond-ers green field, So sav'-ry was said come
Gdg e2 e | (ed)B d>BB | BAB G2 |]
w:mar-ry in time, And she* shall be a true lov-er of mine.
W:
W:I saw a young lady a-walking all out,
W:A-walking all out in the yonders green field,
W:So sav'ry was said come marry in time,
W:And she shall be a true lover of mine.
W:
W:So tell that young lady to buy me a new cambric shirt
W:And make it without needles or yet needles' work.
W:So sav'ry, etc.
W:
W:So tell that young lady to wash it all out
W:And wash it all out in yonders well,
W:Where never was water nor rain never fell.
W:
W:So tell that young lady to deemens (sic) her work
W:And bring on my new cambric shirt.
W:
W:I saw a young man a-walking all out,
W:A-walking all out in the yonders green field,
W:So sav'ry was said come marry in time,
W:And he shall be a true lover of mine.
W:
W:So tell that young man to but [sic] me an acre of land,
W:Betwixt the sea and the sun.
W:So sav'ry, etc.
W:And he shall be, etc.
W:
W:So tell that young man to sow it all down,
W:And sow it all down in pepper and corn.
W:
W:So tell that young man to plough it all in,
W:And plough it all in with that little ram's horn.
W:
W:So tell that young man to haul it all in,
W:And haul it all in on a chee-chicken feather.
W:
W:So tell that young man to crib it all in,
W:And crib it all in a little mouse's hole.
W:
W:So tell that young man to thresh it all out,
W:And thrash it all out in the corner of the house,
W:On the peril of his life to not lose a grain.
W:
W:So tell that young man to deemens his work
W:For to bring on the pepper and corn.