George Collum- Long (MS) pre-1926 Hudson B
[From: Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), pp. 93-194. This is one of three versions published in the JAF in 1926. An additional version was published in Folksongs of Mississippi in 1936. The Long family ballads can be traced from Theodosia's mother who lived in SC in the early 1800s to the 1700s through Alex Long, her father.
A recording was made of Theodosia and Mary Ila between 1923-1930 (see Bronson No. 9) with a nearly identical text.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
5. LADY ALICE. (Child, No. 85.)
Three texts. For other texts from the South, see Cox, No. 17; Campbell and Sharp, No. 22; Reed Smith, pp, 117-118.
B. "George Collum." Communicated by Mr. G. E. Bynum, a student in the University of Mississippi. He obtained it from Miss Ila Long, Saltillo, Lee County, Mississippi, who copied it down while her aged mother (Theodosia) sang it. This text is closest to "Giles Collin", the C version of Child, No. I7.
1. George Collum rode home one cold winter night,
George Collum rode home so fair,
George Collum rode home one cold winter night,
When he took sick and died.
2. There was a girl in yonders land
That wore the silk so fine,
But when she heard that George was dead,
She laid her silks aside.
3. She followed him up, she followed him down,
She followed him to his grave.
Down upon her bended knees
She wept and mourned and prayed.
4. "Open up the coffin, screw off the lid,
Lay back the silk so fine,
That I may kiss his cold clay lips,
For I know he'll never kiss mine."
5. "O daughter, O daughter, why do you weep?
There are plenty more boys besides George."
"O mother, O mother, he has my heart,
And now he is dead and gone!
6. "Oh, don't you hear those lonesome doves,
A-flying from pine to pine ?
They weep and mourn for their own true love,
Just as I mourn for mine."