Cruel Mother, Lyric Variant 02
 


Citation

“Cruel Mother, Lyric Variant 02,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed March 19, 2024, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31445.


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Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>

Title

Cruel Mother, Lyric Variant 02

Description

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Subject

Ballads, English
Murder--Songs and music
Hell--Songs and music
Death--Songs and music

Alternative Title

The Rose o' Malindie O, Down by the Greenwood Side, The Greenwood Siding, The Greenwood Side, There was a Lady Lived in York, Fair Flowers of Helio, Hey wi' the Rose and the Lindie, Down by the Greenwood Side-e-o, Edinbrie, There was a Lady Drest in Green

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Transcription

The Lady in the Tower.

There was a lady who lived in a tower,
All-alone-and-a-lonely
She got married to a fisherman’s son,
All down by the green wood siding.

She had two girls ,both tender and fair,
All-alone-and-a-lonely.
She got it in her heart to kill,
All down by the green wood siding.

She took a rope both strong and stout,
All-a-lone-and-a-lonely.
She took a knife both keen and sharp,
All down by the green wood siding.

She bound them down both hands and feet,
All-alone-and-a-lonely.
She pierced that knife to their tender hearts,
All down by the green wood siding.

She buried them under a marble stone,
All-alone-and-a-lonely.
She prayed to God it would never be known,
All down by the green wood siding.

In seven days she took a walk,
All-alone-and-a-lonely.
She spied those two little girls at play,
All down by the green wood siding.

Oh, girls, oh girls, if you were mine,
All-alone-and-a-lonely,
I’d dress you in the silk so fine,
All down by the green wood siding.

Oh, Mother, oh, Mother, if we were thine,
All-alone-and-a-lonely,
We would need not your silk that you dress in so fine,
All down by the green wood siding.

In seven days you will hear a bell,
All-alone-and-a-lonely,
In seven more you will scream in hell,
All down by the green wood siding.

In seven days she heard that bell,
All-alone-and-a-lonely.
In seven more she screamed in hell,
All down by the green wood siding.

Scholarly Classification

Child, 20 Randolph, 8 Cox, 5 Combs, 9 Sharp, 10

File name

113_CruelMother_Lyric_02_ocr

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Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>