Bedroom Window- Mrs. Felts (AR) 1961 Wolf
[From The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection at Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas.
Listen to the original recording: http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/feltswhoA1255.mp3
R. Matteson 2016]
WHO’S THAT AT MY BEDROOM WINDOW?- Sung by Mrs. Alberta Felts. Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr. in Batesville, AR 8/17/61
“Who’s at my bedroom window,
Weeping there so bitterly?”
“’Tis I, ‘tis I, dear Mary.
I’ll come no more to bother thee.
“Mary, dear, go ask your father
If my wedded bride you may be.
If he says no, return and tell me.
I’ll come no more to bother thee.”
“Willie, dear, I dare not ask him,
For he’s on his dear bed at rest,
By his side a shining dagger
To murder the one that I love best.”
“Mary, dear, go ask your mother
If my wedded bride you may be.
If she says no, return and tell me.
I’ll come no more to bother thee.”
“Willie, dear, I dare not ask her,
For I know she wouldn’t set us free.
You could court another maiden,
And come no more to bother me.”
“I could climb the highest tree, love,
I could rob the dearest nest.
I could court another maiden,
But not the one that I love best.”
Willie drew a shiny dagger,
Placed it through his own true heart,
Saying, “Goodbye, goodbye, dear Mary;
You and I will have to part.”
Mary drew the same bloody weapon,
Pierced it through her snowy white breast,
Saying, “Goodbye, goodbye, dear parents.
Willie and I have gone to rest.”
Said the father to the mother,
“Oh, how cruel we must have been
To take the lives of those true lovers
Who lie so silent in their tomb.”