Hangman- Lucy (VA) pre1925 Scarborough A
[From: On The Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs by Dorothy Scarborough, 1925; her text follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
Scarborough: My first find of folk-material of this sort made a great impression on my mind. Some years ago I was sitting on the porch of my sister's home in Virginia, talking with a young colored maid who loafed on the steps. It was a warm summer afternoon when neither of us felt inclined to exertion, and Lucy was entertaining me withsongs and stories of her race.
The girl sat idly swinging her foot, and gazing across the lake, when suddenly she said, "I'll sing you a song about the Hangman's Tree." She then gave a lively rendering of a ballad I had never heard sung before, making vivid gestures to dramatize her words. I asked Lucy to write it down for me, and here is her version, just as she copied it, with her own " stage directions ":
(Spies Father at a distance, and sings)
Hangman, hangman, hangman,
Loosen your rope. I think I spy my father coming.
He has come many a long mile, I know.
(To Father) Father, have you come?
And have you come at last?
And have you brought my gold?
And will you pay my fee?
Or is it your intention to see me hung
Here all under this willow tree?
(Father to Son) Yes, I've come, I've come.
I have not brought your gold,
I will not pay your fee.
'T is my intention to see you hung
Here all under this willow tree.
(Spies Mother)
Hangman, hangman, hangman,
Loosen your rope.
I think I spy my mother coming.
She has come many a long mile, I know.
(To Mother)
Mother, have you come?
And have you come at last?
And have you brought my gold?
And will you pay my fee?
Or is it your intention to see me hung
Here all under this willow tree?
(Mother to Son)
Yes, I've come, I've come.
I have not brought your gold.
I will not pay your fee.
'T is my intention to see you hung
Here all under this willow tree.
(Spies Brother)
Hangman, hangman, hangman,
Loosen your rope.
I think I spy my brother coming.
He has come many a long weary mile, I know.
(To Brother)
Brother, have you come?
And have you come at last?
And have you brought my gold?
And will you pay my fee?
Or is it your intention to see me hung
Here all under this willow tree?
(Brother to Brother)
Yes, I've come, I've come.
I have not brought your gold.
I will not pay your fee.
'T is my intention to see you hung
Here all under this willow tree.
(Spies Sister)
Hangman, hangman, hangman,
Loosen your rope.
I think I spy my sister coming.
She has come many a long weary mile, I know.
(To Sister)
Sister, have you come?
And have you come at last?
And have you brought my gold?
And will you pay my fee?
Or is it your intention to see me hung
Here all under this willow tree?
(Sister to Brother)
Yes, I've come, I've come.
I have not brought your gold.
I will not pay your fee.
'T is my intention to see you hung
Here all under this willow tree.
(Spies Lover) Lover, have you come?
And have you come at last?
And have you brought my gold?
And will you pay my fee?
Or is it your intention to see me hung
Here all under this willow tree?
(To the Loved One, his Answer)
Yes, I've come, I've come.
I've brought your gold,
I'll pay your fee.
'T is not my intention to see you hung
Here all under this willow tree.
(Locked arms and walked happily away)
I asked Lucy where she learned that, and she said, "Oh, the col-ed folks sing it. We've known it always." When I inquired if she got it from a book or from hearing some lite person sing it, she answered:" No, us colored folks jes' know it. 's jes' been sorter handed down amongst us. I don't know when I learned it."
She told me that Negro children sometimes made a little play of it and acted it out in parts. I was interested in her dramatic and vivid presentation of it, and in the fact that it was obviously not a natural part of the Negro repertoire; but the significance of the general knowledge of it among the Negroes did not impress me so much then later. She could not give me any explanation for the girl's sentence the gallows. "It jes' happened so." Nor did she know any plausable reason why her relatives should spurn her, and her True Love, Love faithful when her own mother rejected her. All she knew was that it was an old song that they had always sung.