Butcher's Boy- Buck Buttery (AR) 1958 Parler H
[From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 281, Item 23. Collected by Marvin Wallace for Mary C. Parler. Transcribed by Frances Majors.
Listen: http://digitalcollections.uark.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/1490/rec/11
R. Matteson 2017]
"The Butcher's Boy." Sung by Buck Buttery of Lincoln, Arkansas on August 19, 1958.
In New York City, where I did dwell,
A butcher's boy I loved so well;
He courted all my heart away,
And now with me he will not stay.
He took another girl upon his knee
And told her just what he told me.
Shall I be young? Shall I be free?
Shall I love a boy that don't love me?
Oh, no, no, no, that shall not be;
For I am young and can be free.
Oh, no, no, no, that shall not be;
For apples grow on a lily tree.
I went up stairs to make my bed;
And nothing to my mother said.
My mother came up stairs to me And said,
What matters, daughter, thee?
Oh, Willie, Willie, I'll tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I.
Her gold will melt and the silver fly;
And in time she'll be just as poor as I.
Her father came home and the door he broke
And found her hanging on a rope.
He took his knife and he cut her down
And in her bosom these words he found.
Please dig my grave both wide and deep;
Place marble stone at head and feet.
Upon my heart a turtle dove
To show this world that I died for love.