Farewell My Lilly Dear

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.

Popular music--United States

Farewells--Songs and music

Love--Songs and music

Enslaved persons--Songs and music

Foster, Stephen Collins, 1826-1864

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

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

PDF

English

Text

<a title= "Pittsburgh (Pa.)" href=" https://www.geonames.org/5206379/pittsburgh.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Pittsburgh (Pa.)</a>

Lily Dear

Oh Lily dear it grieves me
The tale I have to tell
Old master sends me roaming
So Lily fare you well
Oh fare you well my true love
Farewell old Tennessee
Then let me weep for you love
But do not weep for me

Chorus –
Farewell forever to old Tennessee
Farewell my Lily dear don’t weep for me

II

I’me going to roam this wide world
In lands I’ve never hoed
With nothing but my Banjo
To cheer me on the road
For when I’me sad and weary
I’ll make the banjo play
To mind me of my true love
When I am far away

Chorus –

III

I wake up in the morning
And walk out on the farm
And Lily am a darling
She takes me by the arm
We wander through the clover
Down by the river side
I tell you her that I love her
And she must be my bride

Chorus –

IV

Oh Lily dear its mournful
To leave you here alone
You’ll smile before I leave you
And weep when I am gone
The sun can never shine love
So bright for you and me
As when I worked beside you
In good old Tennessee

Chorus

Sue Campbell Jan. 2, 1920
copied from Mrs. R. E.
Barnes ballad

Ruth Emeline Jones [Mrs. R. E. Barnes], 1834-1924

Ruth Barnes grandmother of Sue Campbell

Sue Campbell, 1897-1968

Her ballad collection from the William B. Jones family of Taylorsville, NC is in the UNC Chapel Hill library

1920-01-02

113_FarewellMyLillyDear