Hangsman- Keener (WV) 1947 Musick
[My abbreviated title. From: Society Folklore from West Virginia by Ruth Ann Musick; Hoosier Folklore, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Jun., 1947), pp. 41-49. Her notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
NOTE ON BALLADS CONTRIBUTED BY WALTER H. KEENER, FAIRMONT STATE COLLEGE
All of the following ballads were given me by Walter H. Keener, a student at Fairmont State College, Fairmont, West Virginia. He got all of them from his father. Mr. Keener's father used to sing ballads between the acts of an original minstrel show, which he took from town to town and performed whenever and wherever he could do so before a reasonable-sized audience. The group of young men who took part in these original minstrel shows, written by Mr. Thomas T. Keener, were made up of members of a base ball team, who, at the end of the baseball season, decided to travel around and make an easy living. Mr. T. Keener, it seems, wrote the original scripts, took part in the show, sang ballads between acts, and sold popcorn. I believe Mr. Walter Keener said his father was a mixture of English and Irish; that some English ancestor had gone to Ireland and married there, but I don't believe he knew exactly when. It seems that his father's repertoire at one time included a fairly large number of Child's English and Scottish Ballads in one form or another. Mr. Walter Keener says:
My father in his younger days, rather than earn an honest living, produced plays and toured the country, showing wherever and whenever an audience would appear who looked the price of admission and a bag of popcorn; he had that concession also. During these plays, and between acts, my father sang songs, including a number of old ballads. Because my father produced the plays, all this added to his reasons for claiming a larger part of the "take" as he called it. These songs were imposed upon me while I sat in his lap, as a young lad, on quiet summer evenings on our farm, when nothing interfered with his singing but the buzzing of the locusts, the harmonious cracking of the rocking chair and the croaking of the frogs. At such times, I listened to "Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, Spare That Rope" or "Father, Dear Father, Come Home With Me Now, The Clock In The Steeple Strikes Two." At other times I sat transfixed while he sang "not as well as I used to," to quote him, "He Cut His Wife's Head Off And Kicked It Up Against The Wall." My first picture of the sea was a song that he sang between brief imitations of those frogs and the "cracking" of the rocker :
"Oh, Captain, Captain, tell me true
Does my sweet Willie sail with you?
"Oh, no, kind sir, he is not here,
For he lies in yonder sea, I fear."[1]
It seems Mr. Keener came by his knowledge of ballads from both sides of the family. He says further:
My old grandfather on my mother's side sang a dozen or more of these old ballads by popular request on his ninety-third birthday. Somehow, the beauty of his well seasoned and rich baritone voice imparted a picture that linked me with those ballads these past sixteen years since his death.
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, Spare That Rope" - Keener, 1947, learned from his father.
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, spare that rope
Spare it for a while;
For I see my sister on yonders hill,
And she's come for many a mile.
"Sister, Sister, have you gold,
Gold to set me free?
Or have you come to see me hung
Beneath the old oak tree?"
"Yes, Brother, dear, I do have gold,
But none to set you free;
For I have come to see you hung
Beneath the old oak tree."
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, spare that rope
Spare it for a while ;
For I see my brother on yonders hill,
And he's come for many a mile.
"Brother, Brother, have you gold,
Gold to set me free?
Or have you come to see me hung
Beneath the old oak tree?"
"Yes, Brother, dear, I do have gold,
But none to set you free ;
For I have come to see you hung
Beneath the old oak tree."
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, spare that rope
Spare it for a while ;
For I see my father on yonders hill
And he's come for many a mile.
"Father, Father, have you gold,
Gold to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung
Beneath the old oak tree?"
"Yes, my son, I do have gold,
But none to set you free ;
For I have come to see you hung
Beneath the old oak tree."
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, spare that rope
Spare it for a while;
For I see my mother on yonders hill
And she's come for many a mile.
"Mother, Mother, have you gold,
Gold to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung
Beneath the old oak tree?"
"Yes, my son, I do have gold,
But none to set you free ;
For I have come to see you hung
Beneath the old oak tree."
"Oh, Hangsman, Hangsman, spare that rope
Spare it for a while ;
For I see my sweetheart on yonders hill
And she's come for many a mile.
"Sweetheart, Sweetheart, have you gold,
Gold to set me free,
Or have you come to see me hung
Beneath the old oak tree?"
"Yes, Sweetheart, I do have gold,
Gold to set you free;
For I've not come to see you hung
Beneath the old oak tree."