Georgie (also Georgie-O)- Stikeleather (NC) 1925 Gordon
[This ballad was collected and the music notated when Mrs. Stikeleather was interviewed by Susannah Wetmore and Marshall Bartholomew in September 1924. Gordon recorded the Stikeleather version a year later. Scarborough collected the song (no date given, before 1936 when she died) and it was published "Georgie-O" in 1937 in her "Song Catcher" book.
One of the few versions in North America where Georgie is freed.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932
Scarborough published two songs from the Stikeleathers; one was "Georgie-O." In addition, the song was notated when Mrs. Stikeleather was interviewed by Susannah Wetmore and Marshall Bartholomew in September 1924, a year before Gordon arrived in Asheville.
Like the collectors who preceded and followed him in recording Mrs. Stikeleather's "Georgie," Gordon recognized the uniqueness of the song. It has both an unusual tune and a text which gives evidence of long circulation in oral tradition, with it's heavy use of repetition and it's simplification in comparison to more recent, broadside-derived versions. "Georgie" is a version of Child ballad 209 "Geordie." Coffin classified this text as belonging to "Group D" of those collected in North America, noting that this is the only group which did not come directly or indirectly from British broadsides. Presumably, it derived from Scots oral tradition. This conclusion about the traditional nature of the text is reinforced by Bronson's classification of Mrs. Stikeleather's melody with his "Group A" of tunes for the ballad (III, pp. 268, 272-73). Hers is the only American instance of what is otherwise a group of Scots tunes.
Gordon collected other versions of Child 209 from an Adventure correspondent (333) and a North Carolina informant (A176, NC260)
GEORGIE
[Listen: Georgie by Stikeleather 1925]
Gordon cyl. A101, Item NC146
Nancy Weaver Stikeleather Asheville, North Carolina November 11, 1925; "learned from a mountaineer."
Come bridle me up my milk-white steed,
The brown he ain't so able-o,
While I ride down to Charlotte Town
To plead for the life of my Georgie-o."
When I got in sight of Charlotte Town,
The gentlemen were so plenty-o,
And the table was set, and supper was got,
And the gentlemen were so merry-o.
Come bridle me up my milk-white steed,
The brown he ain't so able-o,
While I ride down to Gallows Hill,
To plead for the life of my Georgie-o.
When I got in sight of Gallows Hill,
The gentlemen were so plenty-o,
And the gallows all 'round my Georgie's neck,
And the rings of gold were so yellow-o.
Then spoke that noble girl,
She spoke most brief and sorry too,
"I will lay you down ten-thousand pounds,
If you'll spare the life of my Georgie-o"
A-then spoke the noble judge,
He spoke most brief and sorry too,
"For to honor you both and for the money-o,
I'll spare the life of your Georgie-o