Butcher Boy- Mildred Ratliff (AR) 1959 Parler A
[From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 270 Item 12. Collected by Billie Lou Ratliff for Mary C. Parler
Listen: http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/2703/rec/1
R. Matteson 2017]
Butcher Boy- Sung by Mrs. Mildred Ratliff of Dutton, Arkansas on January 4, 1959
In Jersey City there did dwell
A butcher boy I loved so well
He stole from me my heart away
He bids me now he will not stay.
There is a house near that same town
Where my love goes and there sits down
He takes a strange girl upon his knee
And he tells to her what he once told me.
I’ll tell you why he loves that girl
Because she has more gold than I
But her gold will melt and her silver fly
She’ll see the day she’ll be as poor as I.
I wish I wish but all in vain
I wish was a free maid again
But broken hearted I shall be
Till apples grow on a willow tree.
Bring me a chair to sit upon
Bring pen and ink to write it down
And at every word she dropped a tear
At the end of every line, cried ”Oh, my dear.”
Go dig my grave and dig it deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
Upon my breast, place a turtle dove
To show to the world that I died for love.