False Lamkin- Carlisle (Ark.) 1912 Randolph
[Randolph's version collected in 1941 from Mrs. Irene Carlisle (Ark.) who learned it in 1912 was collected again in 1951 by Parler, (False Lampkin) then in 1960 by Max Hunter. Her version can be heard in the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection (see audio link below).
R. Matteson 2012]
False Lamkin- As sung by Mrs. Irene Carlisle, Fayetteville, Arkansas on June 23, 1960. Learned from her grandmother, Catherine Luvina Davis, about 1912.
Listen: http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0507
VERSE 1
False Lamkin was as good a mason
As ever laid stone
He built Lord Arnold's castle
Lord Arnold paid him none
VERSE 2
He built it without
An' he built it within
An' he built a false window
For himself to get in.
VERSE 3
Lord Arnold to his lady,
"I'm a-going from home
An' what would you do
If False Lamkin should come?"
VERSE 4
I fear not False Lamkin,
Nor none of his crew
My doors I keep fastened
My windows pinned too.
VERSE 5
Her door she had fastened
Her windows had pinned
When through the false window
False Lamkin stepped in
VERSE 6
Dear mistress, dear mistress
Your baby does cry
And if you don't come to it
It surely must die
VERSE 7
How can I come down
When it's such a dark night
And I have not a candle
To bear me a light?
VERSE 8
Where's them six new lamps
Where the gold shines so bright?
You can take one of them
And come down by the light.
VERSE 9
Lady Arnold scarce had
Opened the door
When she saw False Lamkins
In the middle of the floor
VERSE 10
False Lamkins, False Lamkins
O, spare me my life
An' I give you my daughter Betsy
She'll make a good wife
VERSE 11
Bring down your daughter Betsy
So neat an' so trim
An' bring a gold basin
For t' catch her blood in.
VERSE 12
Daughter Betsy, daughter Betsy
Stay in the garret, so high
Till you see your dear Father
Come a-sailing by
VERSE 13
Daughter Betsy, she stayed
In the garret so high
Till she saw Lord Arnold's ship
Come a sailing by
VERSE 14
Lord Arnold scarce
Had opened the gate
When he saw his dear baby
Lying dead at his feet
VERSE 15
Lord Arnold scarce
Had opened the door
When he saw his dear wife
Lying dead on the floor
VERSE 16
False Lamkin shall be hung
On a gallows, so high
And his false[1] shall be burnt
In an oven near by.
1. Randolph has "faults" which the informants grandmother said were "faults of a criminal" - a written record of his misdeeds. However, it's false for "false nurse" or "faulse nourice."