How Come That Blood On Your Coat Sleeve?- Shreve (Ark.) c.1910 Randolph C
[My title, no title given. From Randolph; Ozark Folksongs, Vol. 1- Ballads, 1946. Recorded from Janet Shreve (Ark.) in 1942, learned c. 1910; Randolph C. One of the very rare versions that use Edward as the name of son.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
C. [How Come That Blood On Your Coat Sleeve?] From Mrs Janet Shreve, Farmington, Ark., May 24, 1942. Mrs. Shreve learned it from John Greene, a farmhand, near Chelsea, Okla., about 1910. She never heard any title, but says it is a "Scottish Ballad."
How came that blood on your coat sleeve?
My son, come tell to me,
It is the blood of the little guinea hawk,
That flew across the fie-ee-eeld,
That flew across the field.
It is too pale for the little guinea hawk,
My son, come tell to me,
It is the blood of my old coon dog
That chased the fox for me-ee-ee,
That chased the fox for me.
It is too pale for the old coon dog,
My son, come tell to me,
It is the blood of the old gray mare
That tends the fields for me-ee-ee,
That tends the fields for me.
It is too pale for the old gray mare,
My son, come tell to me,
It is the blood of your brother John,
What could the matter be-ee-ee,
What could the matter be?
My son, my son, what have you done?
My son, come tell to me,
. . . . . . cut the holly bush[1]
That would have made a tree.
What will you do when your father comes home?
Dear son, come tell to me,
I'll build a ship and sail the ocean foam,
I'll sail across the sea-ee-ee,
I'll sail across the sea.
"When will you come home, Edward my son?
When will you come back to me?"
I will come back when two Sundays come at once,
And that will never be-ee-ee,
And that will never be.
1. "Brother John" could be used to fill in here.