Kitty Wells, Lyric Variant 02
 


Citation

“Kitty Wells, Lyric Variant 02,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed March 29, 2024, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31646.


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Comments

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

Title

Kitty Wells, 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

Minstrel music--United States
Folk songs
Death--Songs and music
Courtship--Songs and music
Love--Songs and music
Grief--Songs and music

Alternative Title

Kittie Wells

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

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

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Spatial Coverage

Transcription

Katy Wells
You ask what makes this darkey weep,
Why him like others am not gay.
What makes the tears roll down his cheek,
From early dawn till close of day.
The story darkys, you shall hear,
For fresh it in my memory dwell,
It will cause you all to shed a tear,
Over the grave of my poor Katy Wells, Chorus-

When the wild birds were singing sweetly in the morning,
when the myrtle and the ivy were in bloom,
When the sun over the hill tops was dawning
It was there I laid her in the tomb.

I never shall forget that day,
When we together roamed the dell,
I kissed her cheek and named the day,
That I should marry Katy Wells.

When death came in that cabin door,
And stole from me my joy and pride,
And when I found she was no more,
I laid my banjo down and cried, Chorus-

Oftimes I wish that I were dead,
And laid beside her in the tomb,
The sorrow that bowed down my head,
Is as dark to me as the midnight gloom.

The springtime has no charm for me,
The flowers are blooming in the dell,
Her from I never more shall see,
Is the form of my poor Katy Wells, Chorus-

(Song ballad written by Miss Linza Joyner for Miss Ella Andrews)

Informant

Linza Joyner, [Mary] Ella Andrews

Scholarly Classification

Brown, Blackface Minstrel, Negro Songs - 411 Cox, 127

File name

113_KittyWells_Lyric_02_ocr

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Comments

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