Wake Up, Wake Up- McInturff (AR) 1942 Garrison

Wake Up, Wake Up- McInturff (AR) 1942 Garrison

[From: Mid-America Folklore - Volume 30 - Page 57; 2002 collected Garrison?

This is simlar to Scarborough's two versions of Drowsy Sleeper mixed with East Virginia Blues (Old Virginny) .

R. Matteson 2016]

WAKE UP, WAKE UP, YOU DROWSY SLEEPER - Sung by Mr. Dan W. McInturff of Marshall, Arkansas, in July, 1942

Wake up wake up, you drowsy sleeper
Wake up, wake up,  for it's almost day
How can you bear to sleep and slumber
When your true love's so far away?

Once I lived in old Virginia;
To North Carolina I did go.
There I spied a nice young lady;
Oh, her name I did not know.

 Her hair was black and her eyes were sparkling,
And on her cheeks were diamond red,
And on her breast she wore a lily,
Oh, the tears that I did shed.

 When I'm asleep I'm dreaming about her;
When I'm awake I see no rest.
Every moment seems like an hour.
Oh, the pain that fraught my breast.

 O Molly dear, go ask your mother
If you my bride can ever be.
If she says no, come back and tell me;
 And I no more will trouble thee.

Oh no, I'll not go ask my mother,
For she lies on her bed at rest;
And in her hand she holds a dagger
To kill the one that I love best.