Dark-Skinned Davy- Cargill (KY) pre1945 REC
[From Folk-Legacy recording, The Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill; Debra Cowan, vocal; 2007. Their notes follow. This version was taken by Cowan from Acie Cargill of Kentucky, who learned it from his Grandmother, Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill(1897–1945). His grandfather was fiddler Asa Cargill (1890-1937) of The Cargill Brothers String Band.
R. Matteson 2015]
Acie Cargill: My grandma, Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill (1897–1945), was the last of the Tyler ballad singing family from Kentucky. The Tylers were very private people and kept their music in the family. They had their own way of tuning all the instruments and their own ways of playing them, and they only allowed family members to know those techniques.
When I was very young, my grandma used to sing to me and make me repeat the words and melodies back to her many times until I had them perfect. I guess I was the one who was chosen to preserve her tradition. I learned to accompany her on a small homemade fretless instrument that I now know was a primitive dulcimer. In this way, my ear was trained in the various scales that she sang in. She played a specially tuned parlor guitar in a strange style with the thumb playing the bass notes and with the index finger being thrust downward all the way to full extension, and she was very accurate with the noting, as I remember.
Dark-Skinned Davy, from Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill (1897–1945) learned by Acey Cargill, sung by Cowan.
The master he came riding home,
A-lookin' for his lady;
The servant soon began to cry:
"She's gone with dark-skinned Davy
Gone with dark-skinned Dave."
Pack your buck-skin gloves and her cape and her cap
And her boots of Spanish leather
Tied behind the new-made mare
And we'll ride home together
And we'll ride home together.
[upcoming]
He rode and he rode
Till he saw their campfire gleamin'
In the arms of the Davy sleepin',