Butcher Boy- Maggie Gannon (NY) 1947 Lutz B
[From: Ballad of the Butcher Boy in the Rampano Mountains by Anne Lutz, New York Folklore Quarterly - Volume 3, 1947. Her notes follow.
This is a poorly remembered version: it begins with two mangled stanzas rolled into one and has a last stanza missing the third line.
R. Matteson 2017]
The first person to sing part of this ballad for me was old Maggie Gannon[1], housekeeper for Gill Pitt, on the mountain paralleling the Haverstraw Road near Ladentown, New York. Her enunciation is poor, but her vigor and enthusiasm are amazing. This is what I got:
A butcher boy in Jersey City
And now with me he won’t not stay.
He silver will melt, he gold will fly;
You’ll be poor as I.
Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
Marble stones to my head and feet,
To show this world I died for love.
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1. For further account of Maggie Gannon and Gill Pitt, see A. T. Shorey's article, "Ma and Pa Pitt," which follows this one.-- NYFQ EDITOR