Two Old Crows- Mulleneoux (KY) 1909 Niles C
[From the Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. Some of Niles notes follow. This version has all the signs of a ballad recreation (see Wilgus).
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
By 1909 the number of crows had been reduced to two crows, or rather, two old crows. At any rate, that was the number in the version sung by Pete Mulleneoux, who lived on the edges of the Wet Woods in Jefferson County, Ky. He was 75 years of age and delightfully noisy, and his rough performance was definitely funny, if one can accept humor in the tradition of the
medieval danse macabre.
Two Old Crows- Mulleneoux (KY) 1909 Niles C
1. Two old crows sat on a tree,
Lordy, hopdi, adddi-ho,
Two old crows sat on a tree,
Black and ugly as they could be,
Lordy, hopdi, adddi-ho.
2. He-crow said: "Well, I'll be beat,"
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho,
He-crow said: "Well, I'll be beat,
What have we got to eat for meat?"
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho.
3. She-crow to old he-crow said:
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho,
She-crow to old he-crow said:
"I know where there's a body not long dead,"
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho.
4. "Press our feet upon his shin,"
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho,
"Press our feet upon his shin,
Pick his bones as clean as a pin,"
Lordy, hopdi, haddi-ho.