Fair Ellender- Lambert (VA) pre1936 Scarborough E
[Title makes no sense should be- Fair Ellen- but I've left it. From: A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains; Scarborough 1937. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
Walter Lambert, of Cracker's Neck, Council, Virginia, had some variations in the way in which he sang it, for the young soldier here is named Jimmy Randolph, and here Fair Ellender dresses in brown for her ride. There is apparent illogic in the first stanza.
* * *
One would fancy that men rather than women had preserved this version, since the costume lacks authenticity. How could her dress be "lily brown"? There are interesting American locutions here as "taken" and "tuck" for took, and Randolph being a name aristocratic and prominent in Virginia would logically be applied to the young captain.
F. Fair Ellender- Lambert (VA) pre1936 Scarborough E
Fair Ellen she has house and lands,
and the brown girl she has none.
If I would advise my dear son,
Go bring the brown girl home.
Jimmy Randolph invited fair Ellen for to come[1]
She put on her lily brown dress,
The trimmings of hit were green,
And every town that she rode round,
They taken her to be some queen.
She rode up to Jim Randolph's hall,
Though loud she jangle[d] the bell,
No one was so ready to take her in,
But Jimmy Randolph hisself.
He taken her by her lily white hands
And led her into the hall,
He set her down at the head of the table
Amongst the fair ladies all.
The brown girl she had a knife in her hand
Were keen and sharp its point.
She placed it against fair Ellen's ribs
and entered it into her heart.
What does it mean, Jimmy Randolph said,
What does it mean? cried he.
Don't you see my own heart's blood,
A-trinkling on my knee?
He tuck the brown girl by her lily white hand
And led her into the hall,
and with a sword cut off her head,
and she fell up against the wall.
The handle of the sword were against the wall,
And the p'int were against his breast.
Here lies the dead of three true loves
God send them all to rest.
1. This line was added to provide continuity to the story and probably should be omitted