Bedroom Window- McDowell (MO) 1930 Randolph F
[My title. From: Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. I, British Ballads and Songs, pp. 244-249.
R. Matteson 2016]
F. [Bedroom Window] -sung by Miss Louise McDowell, Galena, Mo., Sept. 10, 1941. Learned from her parents near Reeds Spring, Mo., about 1930. The parents remembered it from their own childhood.
Who is this at my bedroom window[1]?
. . . .
'Tis I, 'tis I, dear Willie,
I come once more to trouble thee.
Oh Mary dear, go ask your mother
If you might wed[2] a bride shall be,
If she says no, return and tell me,
And I'll no longer to trouble thee.
Oh Willie dear, I dread but ask her,
For she will say she needs me here.
Oh Mary dear, go ask your father
If you might wed a bride shall be,
And if he says no, return and tell me.
And I'll no longer trouble thee.
Oh Willie dear, I dread but ask him,
For he is on his bed of rest,
And by his side is a silver dagger
To pierce through the one that he loves best.
******
Then Willie picked up the shining dagger
And put it through his aching heart,
Saying I do, I do, I do for penance,
For Mary and I we now must part.
Then Mary picked up the shining dagger
And put it through her aching breast,
Saying I do, I do, I do for penance,
For Willie and I have gone to rest.
1. Randolph does not leave a space here but obviously a line is missing.
2. If you my wedded bride