You Promised To Take Me- Sloan (KY) 1917 Sharp J
[My title, replacing the generic Lady Isabel. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians Sharp/Karpeles 1932, where it is version J, with music. There may have been more verses sung but Sharp often did not include more text because the text was poor. The second verse is usually found near the end.
Sharp/Karpeles notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
No. 3. Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight. [Sharp/Karpeles notes; 1932]
Texts without tunes:—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 4. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, ii. art. 106. C. S. Burne's Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 548. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 159, Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, p. 97. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 232; xxii. 65; xxiii. 375; xxiv. 344; xxvii. 90; xxviii. 148; xxxv. 338.
Texts with tunes—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 246 ; ii. 282 ; iv. 116. English County Songs, p. 164. Kidson's Traditional Tunes, pp. 27 and 172, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 48. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 84 (published also in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, vol. i, p. 29, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 29). A. E. Gillington's Eight Hampshire Folk Songs, p. 4. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, p. 2. Wyman and Brockway's Lonesome Tunes, p. 82. J. H. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, pp. 3 and 521 (see further references). Mackenzie's Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia, No. 1. D. Scarborough's On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs, p. 43. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 132; xxii. 76 (tune only) and 374; xxiv. 333. British Ballads from Maine, p. 14. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 62 and 549. Sandburg's American Songbag,
p. 60.
' My Colleen' in version A may, or may not be, a corruption of the May Colvin, Colven, or Collins, of other versions.
[You Promised To Take Me]- Sung by Mrs. ALICE SLOAN at Barbourville, Knox Co., Ky., May 7, 1917. Heptatonic. Ionian (Tonic D).
You promised to take me to the seashore,
And there to marry me.
You promised to take me to the sea-shore,
And there to marry me,
And there to marry me.