The Cruel Mother- Hedy West (GA) 1967 REC
[No source known. Recorded on her LP "Ballads" in 1967 (Topic 12T 163 trk# B.03). Hedy West was born in the northern mountains of Carterville, Georgia in 1938, she learned ballads from her grandmother, Lillie Mulkey West and her great- uncle Augustus 'Gus' Mulkey.
R. Matteson 2014]
1. There was a lady in New York
All alone and lonely,
She fell in love with her father's clerk,
Down by the greenwood sidey.
2. As she was going over the bridge,
All alone and lonely,
She found herself a-growing big
Down by the greenwood sidey.
3. She leaned her back against an oak,
All alone and lonely,
At first it bent, and then it broke,
Down by the greenwood sidey.
4. She leaned herself against a thorn,
There she had two little babes born.
5 She kept a knife both keen and sharp,
She pierced those little babes to the heart,
6. She buried them under a bunch of rue,
She prayed to the lord they'd never come to,
7. As she was walking 'cross the porch,
She saw two little babes at play,
8 Oh babes, oh babes, if you were mine,
I'd dress you up in silk so fine,
9 Mother, oh mother when we were thine,
You neither dressed us course or fine,
10 Mother, oh mother for our sakes
You'll carry the key to hell's gate,