False Lamkins- Davis (AR) 1968 Max Hunter C
[From Missouri State; Max Hunter Folk Song Collection, Cat. #0619 (MFH #184)
online http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=0619.
This is the third version (C) - the first two were collected by Randolph and Parler first.
R. Matteson 2015]
False Lamkins - As sung by Boyce Davis, Lincoln, Arkansas on February 29, 1968
VERSE 1
False Lamkins was as good a mason
As ever laid stone
Built a house for Lord Arnold
Lord Arnold paid him none
VERSE 2
He built it without
And he built it within
And he built a false kitchen window
To let his ownself in
VERSE 3
Said the Lord to his Lady
As he rode away from home,
Beware of False Lamkins
He'll do you some harm
VERSE 4
Well, I care not for False Lamkins
Or fer none of his kin
When the doors are bolted
An' the windows closed in
VERSE 5
Thru a back kitchen window
False Lamkins crept in
And he prick-ed one of the babies
With a bright silver pin
VERSE 6
O nurse maid, O nurse maid
How soundly you sleep
Don't you hear one of the babies
A-startin' to weep
VERSE 7
How durst I go down
In the dead of the night
When there's no fire a kindle
No candles alight
(Boyce says there is something about a penny)