Export Town- Ollie Gilbert (AR) 1969 Hunter H
[From Missouri State; Max Hunter Folk Song Collection; Cat. #0827 (MFH #670) . Minor editing.
Listen: https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0827
R. Matteson 2016]
Export Town- As sung by Ollie Gilbert, Mountain View, Arkansas on August 8, 1969
VERSE 1
I used to live in a Export town
I used to live an' dwell
I used to live in an Export town
I owned a flour mill.
VERSE 2
There was a girl, a Export girl
With dark brown rollin' eyes
I asked that girl to marry me
Me she did deny.
VERSE 3
I strolled out to her sister's house
About eight o'clock that night
I told her that we'd take a walk
An' view the meadow gay,
I told her that we'd take a walk
An' 'point the weddin' day.
VERSE 4
We walked along, we talked along
Till we came to a level ground
I picked a stick up off the ground
An' I knocked this fair maid down.
VERSE 5
She fell upon her bended knee
Have mercy, have mercy, she cried
O Willie dear, don't murder me here
For I'm not prepared to die.
VERSE 6
I minded not a word she said,
But I beat her more an' more;
I beat her till the ground all around
Was in a bloody gore.
VERSE 7
I took her by her long yellow hair
An' slung her 'round an' 'round
Took 'er down to the river side
An' throwed 'er in to drown
VERSE 8
I strolled by to my Mother's house
'Bout twelve o'clock that night;
My Mother, being old an' feeble,
She woke up in a fright.
VERSE 9
O Willie, O Willie, what have you done
That's bloodied your hands an' clothes?
The answer that I give to her,
Was bleedin' at the nose.
VERSE 10
I called for a candlestick
To light myself to bed;
I called for a handkerchief
To bind my achin' head.
VERSE 12
I rolled, I tumbled the whole night through,
No comfort could I see;
But Hell a-shining all around
Hell was all over me.
VERSE 13
They took me up on suspicions
They locked me up in jail
I had no one to care for me
No one to go my bail
VERSE 14
Her sister, swore my life away
She swore it without a doubt
She swore that I was the very man
That led 'er sister out.
VERSE 15
O Lord, they're goin' to hang me now
Th death I dread to die
O Lord, they're goin' to hang me now
Between the earth and sky.