Butcher Boy- Bert Fitzgerald (NL) 1951 Leach
[From: MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA); NFLD 2 Tape 10A Track 17.
A very similar variant was collected in 1951 from Albert (Bert) Fitzgerald [1918-?] of Trepassey, NL, and published as The Butcher Boy in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
R. Matteson 2017]
The Butcher Boy- sung by Bert Fitzgerald of Trepassey, NL.
In Jersey City where I did dwell
A butcher boy oh I courted well
He courted me and my heart away
And with me now he will not stay
I knows a place in this same town
Where my love goes and he sits him down
He takes a strange girl all on his knee
And he tells her things that he don't tell me
Saying grieve[1] for me if I don't know why
They have more gold and silver than I
But his gold will melt and his silver will fly
In grief [1] as poor oft as I.
I went upstairs to make my bed
But nothing like my mother do
My mother came up and to me did say
Oh daughter daughter you're acting queer
Oh mother dear you do not know
What pain and sorrow I’m going through
Go get a chair and set me down
A paper and pen for to write words down
On every line she did drop a tear
For calling her Willie home again
Her father came home and to her did say
Where is my daughter where is she gone
He went upstairs and the door he broke
He found her hanging up to a rope
He got his knife and he cut her down
And on her bosom those words he found
Go dig my grave long wide and deep
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
And a turtle dove [2] on my bosom
To show the world l died for love[3].
1. pronounced glieve and second time glief
2. pronounced turkeylove
3. The last line is spoken. Speaking, instead of singing a final word or phrase is generally thought to indicate Irish influence on the singer or song.