Who's That Knocking on My Window?- Carter Family (VA) 1938 REC
[From Decca recording 5612 on June 8, 1938; recording at Honkingduck online. Take the 3rd stanza:
I've come to whisper in your ear, love
Do you think it any harm?
I've come to wean you of your mother
Pray trust yourself in your darling's arms!
and compare to lines from: Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, c. 1725
Go tell your passion to some other,
Or whisper softly in my ear.
'Tis time you were wean'd from your mother,
You're fitter for a lover's arms.
R. Matteson 2016]
WHO'S THAT KNOCKING ON MY WINDOW?- Sung by Carter Family on June 8, 1938
Who's that knockin' at my window,
Knocks so loud and won't come in?
'Tis your own true-hearted lover
Rise you up and let him in
Go 'way, go 'way, don't wake my mother
For love's a thing she can't endure
She's been the ruin of many a lover
She'll be the ruin of many more
I've come to whisper in your ear, love
Do you think it any harm?
I've come to wean you of your mother
Pray trust yourself in your darling's arms!
Go 'way go 'way, don't wake my father
For he is on his bed of rest
And on his breast he carries a weapon[1]
To kill the one that I love best
I wish I was some little sparrow
I'd circle like a turtle dove
I'd fly away to a lonely valley
And settle down in the land of love
1. pronounced "wee-pon."