US & Canadian Versions: 26. The Three Ravens
Although my collection of 85 mostly traditional US and Canadian versions lack the integrity of the original ballad (no corbies and few ravens here), they make up for it in variety and style. The three ravens become crows and the crows are, at first, minstrel stage performers in blackface. The three published versions in the 1860s were all "lined out"-- spoken slowly by the lead and then sung by the group. This was a parody of the old church hymns that were "lined out" in a similar fashion.
Some of the US versions came from print sources and others were learned second hand from print sources, which makes most of the US "traditional" versions suspect. However there are several US versions that rival Child's traditional versions and are not of the animal only-minstrel kind but they are very rare. Flanders A and B (Ancient Ballads) and Stout E (Iowa Ballads) are the exceptions. Barry also gives verses of Ravencoft's Melismata (1611) that was heard by Captain Donovan of Maine (before 1929) after he was shown the text- which from my view- means this recollection was prompted and unacceptable as a viable version. Flanders A, from Lily Delorme is a good example of the older Child ballad forms:
The Three Blackbirds
There were three blackbirds on one tree,
I-dum, I-dum, derrie-I-aye.
There were three blackbirds on one tree,
I-dum-derrie-I-aye.
There were three blackbirds on one tree,
Saying, "Where shall we go dine today?"
I-dum, derrie-I-aye.
In yonders meadow there behold
A soldier lying dead and cold.
His horse is standing by his side
Waiting for him to get on and ride.
His hounds are lying at his feet
Licking the wounds that are so deep.
There came a maiden full of woe.
She turn-ed o'er his bloody head
And kissed the lips that once were red.
She laid herself down by his side
And there she lay until she died.
They dug a grave both long and wide
And placed this couple side by side.
Out of his grave a red rose grew
And out of hers a lily too.
Delorme's excellent version was learned around the 1870s when she was a child but came much earlier from her family when they were in Starksboro, Vermont.
Most of the minstrel-type versions appeared in a wide variety of college songbooks, starting with the Carmena Collegensia (Boston) in 1868, included a version and as Niles stated in his Ballad Book, "This piece of nonsense was sung in my family for the purpose of creating humor, when I was a boy (c. 1900). Although the situation was not amusing, "Willie McGee McGaw" never failed to get a laugh."
It appears the "Willie McGee McGaw" refrain was added in the mid to late 1800s and was published that way as early as 1909. Stout A was recollected before the Civil War from a lady in New York and it has the Billy Magee Magar refrain. The ballad has commonly been sung to the melody of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." William A. Owens collected the song from both Whites and African-Americans in Texas, and said a version he found in the Carolinas had been learned in the 1880s. These Texas versions also included the three verses mentioned above, in variant forms. Tunes heard in Texas approximated "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Wm. A. Owens, Texas Folk Songs, 1950 (1976 ed.), "Three Black Crows," pp. 14-15 with music. Listen to a version with that melody: Peggy Seeger.
There are several collected US versions which are based on Alan Cunningham's original ballad (See: Henry A, c.1900, Chase 1956, Shoemaker 1931) which was printed in 1825 in Cunningham's Songs of Scotland, Vol. I, pp. 289-290. Cunningham rewrote Scott's (See Twa Corbies- Child A a.) and used the Ravenscroft's text (See Child A Three Ravens). After Cunningham's Two Crows was published in Cleveland's Compendium (Philadelphia, 1848, with subsequent editions reprinted in 1859 etc.) it began surfacing as a traditional ballad, but it was learned most likely from this book- directly or second hand. Cunningham's original work of six stanzas begins:
There were two ravens sat on a tree,
Large and black as black might be,
And one unto the other 'gan say,
Where shall we go and dine to-day?
Shall we go dine by the wild salt sea?
Shall we go dine 'neath the greenwood tree?
As I sat on the deep sea sand,
I saw a fair ship nigh at land,
I waved my wings, I bent my beak,
The ship sank, and I heard a shriek;
There lie the sailors, one, two, three:
I shall dine by the wild salt sea-
Some of the minstrel type versions (Two Crows- Chisholm, VA 1918) have the "apple tree" verse which is found in the first published minstrel song, The Four Vultures from the Black Diamond Songster in 1863.
Traditional Ballads of Virginia (Davis D, 1929) contributor John Stone reports the ballad sung to the Burns melody, "Bonny Doon." Other versions are sung to the melody of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." According to Bronson the minstrel lyrics have been adapted to other melodies including, the shape-note hymn "Windham," the fiddle tune "Cluck Old Hen," Randolph's version A "Little Brown Jug," and the barbershop quartet song, "Sweet Adeline."
Davis, by far, (A-Q with two related parodies in his Appendix; also 3 in More Ballads) has collected the most versions, but none are of the older Child ballads. See the parodies below. Flanders (Ancient Ballads, A-P) has an excellent variety with two of the complete forms. Stout from Iowa (1936) has A-F with one variant of the Child A (1611) which if legitimate is very rare.
The ballad, at least in its minstrel form, is one of the few listed by Botkin (1937) as a play-party song and he gives two examples from Oklahoma. [See text below].
R. Matteson 2012]
CONTENTS: Individual versions can be accessed by clicking on the blue title link below or by clicking on the version attached to this page on the left hand column.
1) The Two Crows- Erskine (MA-ME-CT) 1835 Flanders B-- My date. From Flanders, Ancient Ballads; 1966; Mrs. G. C. Erskine of Cheshire, Connecticut, sang this "glee-piece" as learned from her grandmother, Orinda Townsend, of Dixfield, Maine (born 1825). H. H. F., Collector; October 1, 1939. This is a rare version that has additional verses that briefly tell of the horse, rider, and his leman's love. According to a chart at Ancestry.com the informant's grandmother, Orinda Townsend was born c. 1827 and her father was Noah Townsend born 1783 in Arlington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and moved to Oxford County, Maine, where he died in 1856.
2) Crow Song- Wilcox (NY-IO) c.1860 Stout A-- From Folklore from Iowa, collected and edited by Earl J. Stout. 1936. Contributed and sung by Mrs. Sophia H. Wilcox, Soldier's Home, Marshalltown, October 1, 1931. She the learned it as a girl in Erie County, New York, probably before the Civil War.
3) Three Old Crows- Burgess (VA) c.1860 Sharp A-- From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Sharp-Campbell I, 1916 p. 32 and Sharp-Karpeles I, 1932. This two verse fragment appears as Sharp A as "The Three Ravens" with music and Davis I as "The Three Crows." Sung by Mr. Ben Burgess (76), at Charlottesville, Va. Arbemarle County September 29, 1916. With music. "This fragment was learnt by the singer when a boy, from the singing of his great-grandfather, an Italian, Genini, who was brought to this country by Thomas Jefferson upon the conclusion of the latter's term in Paris, for the purpose of of introducing Italian methods of viticulture into America.
4) The Four Vultures- Black Diamond Songster 1863-- From: Frank Brower's Black Diamond Songster and Ebony Jester (New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, [c. 1863]), pp. 30-31. The ballad, titled "The Four Vultures. A Burlesque Quartette," is prefaced by the description: "As sung by Frank Brower, Ephe Horn, Nelse Seymour, and Charley Fox. (Always received with shouts of laughter.)"
5) The Three Crows- Christy's New Songster, 1863-- From Christy's New Songster and Black Joker; New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1863 and features the "lining out" style of singing found in the early churches.
6) Three Black Crows- Post (PA-IO) pre1865 Stout C--
7) The Three Crows- Carmena Collegensia; Boston 1868
The Three Crows- Fray (VA) c.1870 Davis P
Three Black Crows- Wallace (VT) c1870 Flanders I
The Three Ravens- W.T. Davis (VA) c1871 Davis C
Three Black Crows- McLaren (IO) 1875 Stout D
Bally-Way-Wiggle-Dum-Daw: Doten (VT) 1880 Flan J
Three Blackbirds- Delorme (NY-VT) 1880 Flanders A
Three Black Crows- Adams (VA) c1880 Davis F
Three Black Crows- Eaton (VT) c1880 Flanders E
Three Black Crows- Asbury (TX) 1880 Owens
Three Black Crows- Daniels (VT) c1888 Flanders C
Two Crows- Bingham (KY) c.1888 Roberts
The Three Crows- Purcell (VA) c.1890 Davis AA
Two Old Crows- Carr (NY-NH) c.1895 Flanders H
The Three Crows- Marshall (Va.) c.1900 Davis L
The Twa Corbies- Gray (Ind.) Early 1900s Henry A
Willie McGee McGaw- Niles (KY) c.1900 Niles B
Three Black Crows- Lynch (IO) c1900 Stout B
Three Black Crows- Luther (ME-NH) c1900 Flanders D
The Three Ravens- Dowling (OH) 1906
The Three Ravens- McLeod (WI-Scotland) 1906 JAFL
Crow Song- Songbook of the Harvard Club (CA) 1909
Two Old Crows- Mulleneoux (KY) 1909 Niles C
Three Black Crows- Battle (NC) 1910 Brown Coll.
The Three Crows- Watson (MO-OK) pre1910 Moores
The Two Crows- Gainer (WV) 1912 Gainer
The Three Crows- Tabb (Va.) 1915 Davis A
Two Crows- Martha Davis (Va.) 1915 Davis B
The Three Crows- Cox (WV) 1915 Cox A
The Three Crows- Dowdy/Sayre (WV) c.1915 Cox B
Three Black Crows- Wright (MO) 1916 Belden A
The Three Ravens- Gentry (NC) 1917 Sharp MS
The Two Crows- Maddox (Va.) 1918 Sharp B
The Three Crows- Woods (VA) 1918 Sharp C
Two Crows- Chisholm (VA) 1918 Sharp 1935 Wilkinson
Three Black Crows- Kirtley (MO) 1918 Belden B
The Three Crows- Grubb (Va.) 1919 Davis J
Three Crows- Ferneyhough (Va.) 1919 Davis K
The Three Crows- Robertson (Va.) 1921 Davis N
The Three Ravens- Rouzie (Va.) 1922 Davis D
The Three Ravens- Unknown lady (VA) 1922 Davis E
The Three Crows- Compton (Va.) 1922 Davis G
The Three Ravens- Throckmorton (Va.) 1922 Davis H
The Three Crows- Unknown (VA) 1922 Davis M
The Three Ravens- Rowe (Va.) 1922 Davis O
The Three Ravens- Richardson (Va.) 1922 Davis Q
Three Crows- (MS) c1923 Hudson- Bronson
Three Black Crows- Tillett (NC) 1924 Chappell
The Crow Song- McClure (WV) 1927 Cox
The Three Black Crows- Franklin (NC) 1930 Henry B
Three Black Crows- Franklin (NC) 1930 Henry C
The Two Ravens- Walton (PA) 1931
Three Black Crows- Bliss (VT) c.1931 Flanders G
The Three Crows- Spitzer (VA) 1931 Davis CC
The Three Crows- Wilson (VA) 1932 Davis BB
The Three Crows- Terry (MO) 1933 Randolph A
The Three Crows- Ford (IN) 1935 Brewster A & B
Three Crows- M. McAllister (VA) 1935 Wilkinson B
Three Crows- L. McAllister (VA) 1935 Wilkinson A
The Three Ravens- Dew (IO) pre1936 Stout E
Three Black Crows- Dew (IO) pre1936 Stout F
One Old Crow- Swetnam (MS) 1936 Hudson
There Were Three Crows- Moore (OK) 1937 Botkin A
There Were Three Crows- Whitelock (IN) 1937 Botkin
The Three Crows- Wilkins (NH) 1939 Linscott
The Three Crows- Mahnkey (Mo.) 1939 Randolph B
Lover's Farewell- Wetmore (KY) c. 1940 Niles A
The Three Crows- Sue Putman (NY) 1941
Three Crows- Burl Ives (NY) c.1941
The Crow Song- Levell (VA) 1942
The Three Crows- Moses (NH) 1942 Flanders F
The Three Ravens- Nelson (NS) pre-1950
The Three Crows- Knight (FL) 1950 Morris
Three Black Crows- Nelson (NS) pre1950 Creighton
The Two Ravens- Brooks (DC) 1956 Chase
Three Crows- Smith (AR) 1960 Max Hunter
Blow the Man Down- Nickerson (NS) 1961
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Introduction to Flander's Ancient Ballads, 1966. Coffin's notes.
The Twa Corbies
(Child 26)
The tradition of "The Twa corbies" has given literature two of the most beautiful ballad poems known: the J. Ritson (Ancient Songs from the Time of King Henry the Third, to the Revolution of London, 1790], 155) and the Sir Walter Scott (Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border [New York, 1902], III, 239) texts. The Ritson "Three Ravens" is a simple, honest lyric of true love without a maudlin or sentimental touch. It tells the wish of all knights, "God send euery gentleman, such haukes, such hounds, and such a leman." The Scott "Twa Corbies," on the other hand, is cynical, desolate, and Anglo-Saxon with the finality of its closing lines,
"O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
the wind sall blaw for evermair."
Thus, it is surprising to study the history of the ballad. As it is rare in Britain (Child has only one text beyond the two mentioned above), as it is not known to any extent in Canada, and as there are no European analogues, one is at a loss to explain how such a restricted oral tradition has developed such perfect poems. The answer cannot be suggested by what is found in America, either. Although it is common here, it owes its popularity to a minstrel stage burlesque that had great currency about the time of the Civil War and to its inclusion in rewritten form in books like Cleveland's Compendium of 1859. The American versions are mostly nonsense material like Flanders C-J in which two crows decide to eat a dead horse and in which there are no human actors. With their lines, such as "Oh maybe you think there is more, but there isn't" and "The Devil thought to injure me by cutting down my apple tree," they are in a real sense not Child 26 at all. However, Flanders A retains much of the spirit of "The Three Ravens" text and, like the one that Earl J. stout (Folklore from Iowa [New York, 1936], 2)found preserves the fidelity of the hounds and lady love. Such a text, sporting the borrowed "red rose" cliche, is an outstanding discovery in a tradition as corrupted as this. Flanders B, though not as true to the Ritson text, is nevertheless dignified and is not from the music hall tradition of "Billy Magee Magaw." The Scott form of the song, unburlesqued and unsentimentalized, has been discovered in America, too. See Henry W. Shoemaker, Mountain Minstrelsy (Philadelphia, 1931), 276. For an American bibliosraphy and discussion' see coffin, 52-54. Dean-smith lists it in pug. lll, and there is an extensive study of the ballad in Hermann Tardel's ZweiLied, studien, I. Die Englisch-Schottische Roben Ballade (Bremen). Jane Zielonko's remarks in her Master's thesis, "Some American variants of Child Ballads" ([Columbia University, 1945], 7l f.), are also useful.
The large number of tune families for this ballad in BC1 indicates the diversity of tunes by which this text is accompanied. Thus it is not surprising to find the three tunes presented here to be unrelated.
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The American Play-Party Song- Botkin, 1937:
"The Three Ravens" (Child, No. 26). Here the players form a circle and move around three in the center who are the crows and sit flapping their wings and cawing, to the singing of the lines:
There were three crows sat in a tree,
Billy McGee McGar!
There were three crows sat on a tree,
And they were as black as black could be.
They all flapped their wings and cried:
"Caw! caw! cawl"
Billy McGee McGar!
Mrs. Ethel Perry Moore, Prague, Lincoln county, who played it during recess at school taught by the teacher. Having entered into American tradition as a comic animal song, this has also become a college song and given rise to parodies. compare "In Eighteen Hundred and sixty-Four,"part Two, and the two Civil war parodies, Davis (Virginia), p. 145. This has also been communicated to me as a children's song in Indiana by Florence Whitelock. For American versions of "The Three Ravens," "The Three Crows," "The Three Black Crows," etc., based on "The Twa Corbies"'a comic version of "The Three Ravens, (Child, No. 26)
A. There Were Three Crows * (Mrs. Ethel perry Moore, Prague, Lincoln County.)
1 There were three crows sat on a tree,
Billy McGee McGar!
There were three crows sat on a tree,
And they were as black as black could be.
They all flapped their wings and cried:
"Cawl Caw! Caw!"
Billy McGee McGar!
2 Said one old crow unto his mates.
"What shall we do for grub to eat?"
3 "There lies a horse on yonder plains,
Who was by some butcher slain."
4 "We'll perch upon his bare back bones,
And pick his eyes out one by one."
B. There Were Three Crows (Florence Whitelock, Norman, Cleveland County, from Indiana.)
There were three crows sat on a tree
They were as black as crows could be.
One old crow said unto his mate,
Where shall we go for grub to eat?
*"An Experiment in collecting and classifying the Folk-Songs sung in Oklahoma" (in MS) No. 4.
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THE THREE RAVENS -PARODIES
Davis Appendix, 1929, Traditional Ballads of Virginia.
A. Parody of "The Three Crows." collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mrs. Wyndham Robertson, of Plasterco, Va. Washington county. November 8, 1921.
1 In eighteen hundred and sixty-one,
"Skubaugh," says I,
In eighteen hundred and sixty-one,
"Skubaugh," says I,
In eighteen hundred and sixty-one,
We whipped the Yankees at Bull Run;
And we'll all drink stone blind,
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
2 In eighteen hundred and sixty-two
The Rebels put the Yankees through.
(Refrains, as above.)
3 In eighteen hundred and sixty-three
You ought to seen the Yankees flee.
4 In eighteen hundred and sixty-four,
Them Yankees cried, "We want no more."
5 In eighteen hundred and sixty-five
We all thanked God we were alive.
B. Parody of "The Three Crows." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by S. F. Barnes, of Nokomis, Va. "Mr. Barnes learned it from his father who was a confederate soldier." (Mr. Stone This favors the theory of a Southern impersonation of a Northerner replying to A.
1. Though a mistake we lost Bull Run,
"Three balls" says I,
Through a mistake we lost Bull Run,
"Three balls" says I,
And we all skeedaddled to Washington,
And we'll all drink stone blind drunk.
Johnny, come fill up the bowl.
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Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950
From the section, A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
26. THE THREE RAVENS (THE TWA CORBIES)
Texts: Barry, rit Bids Me, 435 (trace) / Belden, Mo F-S, 31 / Botkin, Am Play-Party Sg, 63 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, S3 1 Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 76 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 15 / Chelsea Song Book, 31 / Christy's New Songster and Black Joker (cop. 1863), 58 / Cleveland's Compendium, Philadelphia, (1859) / Cox, F-S Soutb, 31 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 137 /
Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 198 / Focus, V, 279, 281 / Frank Brower's Black Diamond Songster (cop. 1863), 3 / Frank Converse's Old Cremona Songster (cop. 1863), 56 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 102 / Heart Songs, 485 / Henry, F-S So HgUds, 48 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 72 / Hudson, F-T Miss, i / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # 6 / Jones, F-L Mick, 5 / JAFL, XX, 1 54; XXXI, 273; XLV, 8 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 289 / McCill University Song Book (Montreal, 1921), 94 / Morris, F-S Flo, 387 / Niles, Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 7 / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 23 / PTFLS, VII, no / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 74 / Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 194 / Scottish Student's Song Book, 268 / Singer's Journal, I, 239 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, # 10 / SharpK, Eng F-S So dplchns, I, 63 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 276 / Stout, F-L la, 2 / Fa FLS Bull, #s 4, 5, 710 / Wake's Carmina Collegensia (Boston, cop, 1868), 26 / Wetmore and Bartholomew, Mt Sgs NC, 10.
Local Titles: The Crow Song, The Three (Two) Ravens, The Two (Three) Crows, The Twa Corbies, Three Black Crows.
Story Types: A: Two or three carefree crows wonder what they will have for supper. The corpse of a horse, or some other animal, is spied in a near-by field, and in the spirit of revelry they fly down for a feast.
Examples: Brewster (A), Davis (A), Stout (A).
B: Two birds on a tree wonder where they can dine. One remarks that a ship went down by the seashore and that he plans to go there. The other says he knows of a sweeter meal a knight who has been slain. Only the knight's hawk, hound, and lady know the man is lying there. All three are away, the lady with another lover. The birds plan their feast, while the last
six lines tell of the cold bare grave of the knight in Anglo-Saxon style. This is the original Twa Corbies type.
Examples: JAFL, XLV, 10; Shoemaker.
C: The Type B story is told, except that the English Three Ravens text is followed in that the hawks and true-love remain faithful. The girl dies at dawn. Examples: Stout (E).
D: The two crows decide to eat a newly-born lambkin lying by a rock. A bird overhears the plan, goes to rouse the lamb, and tells him to flee. There is a moralistic, sentimental close.
Examples: JAFL, XX, 154.
E: A lyric song is sung by a girl of a lover who went to war in the Lowlands and now lies there known only to his horse and his "Lady Marie". He will sleep there, but she must grieve. There is no crow dialogue, and the mood is tragic.
Examples: Niles.
Discussion: The American versions of this song lack, in general, the dignity and feeling or cynicism of the English and Scottish versions. Except for the few texts in Types B and C, and the corrupted Type E, there are no human actors in the New World. The ballad has become an animal song, degenerated and parodied. (For its relations to the minstrel stage refer to Kittredge,
JAFL, XXXI, 273. Also check Davis, Trd Bid Va, 145 and Cox, F-S South, 31 for notes on the comic degeneration of the ballad.)
Keys to the general spirit of almost all the American texts are the refrains ("Billy Magee Magaw"; "Caw, Caw, Caw"; "Skubaugh"; etc. in place of the "hey down, hey derry day" and "sing lay doo and la doo and day" of Child B) ; endings such as the stock lines "Oh maybe you think there's another verse, but there isn't" on Brewster, BUs Sgs Ind, A; the interpolations
of cures, "cracker-barrel philosophy," and politics (See Davis, Trd Bid Va, C, G; Haun, Cocke Cnty, 102) ; and the sentimentality of Type D. The rationalization that the horse has been slain by a butcher (Randolph, Oz F-S, A) carries the whole thing one step further. See also Davis, op. cit., F, M where the horse becomes a "pig with a glass eye" and where a "quack, quack" refrain can be found.
There are a few texts in existence in America that retain the spirit of the Child versions. One Iowa song follows the English tradition, of the faithful girl. The others (Type B) probably owe their existence to the inclusion of a Twa Corbies text in Cleveland's Compendium (1859). Shoemaker found this form in Pennsylvania, and Barry located a Maine sea-captain who recognized seven of the ten Child stanzas. However, this man remembered a rescue of the knight directed by the ravens and a subsequent return to health by the warrior.
The degenerated forms that I have used as Types D and E are not related to anything in Child. The sentimental rescue of the lambkin in D reminds one of the ending Barry's sea-captain claimed for the song. The absence of the crows and the confused story of Type E seem to indicate corruption, though there is a moving lyric-tragic tone to this text.
Mention should be made of the extensive study of the ballad and its English and Scottish variants in Hermann Tardel's Zwei Liedstudien, /. Die engliscb schottiscbe Rolen Ballade, Beilage zum Jahresheit des Realgymnasiums zu Bremen. See also Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, /iff.
For a description of the ballad as a play-party game see Botkin, Am Play-Party Sg, 63.
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From Belden: Ballads and Songs, 1940 (Missouri)
One of the Virginia versions (TBV H) has taken up the following lines:
So said the blackbird to the crow,
'Down in the cornfield we will go.
'Ever since Adam and Eve were made
The picking of corn has been our trade,'
which are a form of what exists in Missouri as a separate bit of traditional song. Similar lines are reported from North Carolina in MSNC I0-2. Professor G. C. Broadhead gave me the following in 1910 as known to him for many years:
[music]
Says the blackbird to the crow,
'What makes white folks hate us so?
Ever since the world was made,
pulling up corn has been our trade.
And W. S. Johnson in 1908 communicated the following tune as known in Miller County:
[Music]
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Missing versions:
THREE BLACK CROWS, THE
Source Parler, Arkansas Ballad Book p.52
Performer Smith, Fred
Place collected USA : Arkansas : Bentonville
Collector Parler, Mary Celestia
THREE CROWS
Source Fowke, Ring Around the Moon pp.54-55
Performer McCausland, Claire
Place collected Canada : Ontario : Grimsby
Collector Fowke, Edith
THREE CROWS, THE
Source Creighton, Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick p. 5
Performer Stuart, Scott
Place collected Canada : New Brunswick : St. Andrews
Collector Creighton, Helen
THREE CROWS, THE
Source Edith Fowke Coll. (FO 73)
Performer Bonham, Mrs. Ida
Place collected Canada : Ontario : Tory Hill
Collector Fowke, Edith
THREE RAVENS, THE
Source Leach, Folk Ballads & Songs of the Lower Labrador Coast (1965) pp.22-23
Performer Letto, Peter
Place collected Canada : Labrador : Lance au Clair
Collector Leach, MacEdward
POOR OLD CROW
Source Seeger, American Folk Songs for Children (1948) p.121
Performer
Place collected USA : Virginia
Collector
TWO OLD CROWS
Source Folktrax 908-60 ('Songs of the Southern Appalachians 2')
Performer Allen, Mrs. Oscar
Place collected USA : Virginia : Lynchburg
Collector Karpeles, Maud
CROW SONG, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1409 (version a)
Performer Lovell, Mrs. Ethel
Place collected USA : Virginia : Wise
Collector Hylton, James M.
THERE WERE THREE CROWS SAT ON A TREE
Source Combs, Folk-Songs of the Southern United States (1967) p.201 item 10(b)
Performer Humphries, George E.
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Morgantown
Collector Combs, Josiah H. / Woofter, Carey
THREE CROWS, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1409 (version b)
Performer Sizer, J.M.
Place collected USA : Virginia : Richmond
Collector Hylton, James M.
THREE CROWS, THE
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.1409 (version c)
Performer Wooding, Mrs. Nancy G.
Place collected USA : Virginia : Danville
Collector Scales, Bessie A.
THREE CROWS, THE
Source Library of Congress: Archive of American Folk Culture 5030 A3
Performer Putnam, Sue
Place collected USA : California : Cassadaga
Collector Todd, Charles L. / Robert Sonkin
THREE CROWS, THE
Source John Donald Robb Coll. (Center for Southwest Research, Univ New Mexico, Albuquerque) MU7 CD24 (text 689)
Performer Schallenburg, Anna Maria
Place collected USA : New Mexico : Albuquerque
Collector Robb, John Donald
THREE RAVENS, THE
Source Anderson: Tennessee Folklore Soc. Bulletin 8:3 (1942) p. 76
Performer
Place collected USA : Tennessee :
Collector
THREE RAVENS, THE
Source Haun, Cocke County Ballads & Songs (1937) p.102
Performer Haun, Fred
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Cocke County
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Collected by Tom Harper, Chester Lowe, and Ron R. Smith. For M.C. Parler Transcribed by Tom Harper, Chester Lowe, and Ron R. Smith. Sung by Mr. John Hampton Booneville, Ark. January 9.1960. Reel 340, Item 6
THREE OLD CROWS
There were three crows sat on a tree,
And they were black as coals could be.
Said one old crow crow unto his mates,
"What shall we do for grub to eat?"
There lies a horse on yonder hill
Who by some cruel butcher was slain.
We'll perch upon his bare backbone
and pick his eyes out one by one.
-----------------------
Coll. by M.C. Parler Mrs. Katie Lee Pershall Evansville, Ark. November 6, 1959 Reel 319, Item 1
Humble Bumble (The Three Black Crows)
There were three crows sat on a tree,
And they were black as crows could be.
Humble bumble sniggerie grin,
Snoozie rinctum boozer.
Said one old crow unto his mate,
What shall we do for grub to eat?
Refrain.
Away down yonder in yonders lane
Lies an old dead horse just lately slain.
Refrain.
We’ll place ourselves on his old backbone,
Pick his eyeballs out just one by one.
Refrain.
----------------
Collected by Parler Jon Phelps Booneville, Ark. January 14, 1960 Reel 356, Item 17
Three Old Crows
There were three old crows
In a hick'ry tree,
And they were black
As black could be.
Said one old crow
To the other two,
Where can we find
Some gum to chew.
Said another old crow
To the other two,
In yonder field
Lies an old dead mule.
That we can chew,
And chew and chew
And chew and chew
And chew and chew.