Wexford Girl- Rita Emerson (WV) 1998 Davies
[From the Gwilym Davies Collection. Special thanks to Gwilym for supplying the recording.
R. Matteson 2016]
Wexford Girl- sung and recited by Rita Emerson of Glenville, WV on March 21, 1998. Collected by Gwilym Davies.
Was in the town of Wexford
I once did live and dwell;
Was in the town of Wexford,
I owned a floury mill.
Was there I met the pretty girl
With a dark and roving eye,
I asked her if she'd marry me,
My wishes to comply.
[stops][1]
We walked and we talked
Till we came to level ground[2]
[I picked a stick up off the fence,
And I knocked that fair girl down.]
I knocked her to her bended knee
For mercy she did cry,
"Oh Johnny dear don't murder me here
I'm not prepared to die."
I paid no heed to what she said
But beat her all the more,
Until she lay upon the ground
All in one bloody gore.
[I took her by her curly locks,[3]
And drug her round and round,]
I threw her into the river,
That flows through Wexford town.
I went to my mother's house
At twelve o'clock at night,
I came in, in a hurry,
And in an awful fright
Said, "Johnny my son what have you done,
There's blood upon your clothes?"
The answer that I gave her,
"Been bleeding at the nose."
I asked for a candle,
To light myself to bed,
And also for a handkerchief
To tie my aching head.
I rolled and I tumbled,
No pleasure could I find,
For the gates of hell [were] wide open,
Before my eyes did shine.
A week or two after that,
This poor maid's body was found,
A-floating down the river
That flows through Wexford town.
Her sister swore my life away,
The reason she had no doubt
She swore I was the identical man,
That took her sister out.
1. Informant becomes confused, skips a stanza about going "to her sister's house".
2. Still confused sings, "Wexford town" instead of "level ground" skips ahead. It is possible that Wexford Town was intended, although only one out of over 150 versions has the city here.
3. Partially remembered- stanza reconstructed based on her intent.