How Come That Blood? Dryden (TX) 1941 Owens B
[From Texas Folk Songs; William Owens, 1950; with music. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
HOW COME THAT BLOOD ON YOUR SHIRT SLEEVE- Owens 1950 Texas Folk Songs
This ballad came to me first as a fragment from Mrs. C. H. Burke of Silsbee. Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Thompson had arranged for me to record at their home. When I had the recording machine set up they sent for Mrs. Burke, only to be told that she had gone to the woods to pray, as she did every morning. After a while she came to the house and though it was against her religion, sang a dozen or so songs, among them "The Boston Burglar" and "Little Mohea." She finally told me that she knew one more song, but that it was too old for me to want. She sang enough of it, however, for me to recognize it as "Edward."
It was several years before I located a complete version of the song. This time the singer was Mrs. Ben Dryden of the Sandy Creek settlement. Since then I have found several more versions, but none as full as Mrs. Dryden's. I heard all of these in Southeast Texas and was unable to find the song elsewhere in the state. Collectors from other parts of the United States have reported it only a few times.
The version printed by Bishop Thomas Percy (Reliques of English Poetry; 3 vols., 1765) is a story of patricide, with a suggestion of incest as the motive. In the versions I have found the crime in invariably fratricide, and there is no hint of incest. The murder always grows out of an argument over cutting down a juniper tree.
In one Texas version the answer to the opening question is, "It is the blood of my guinea gew hawk," and the song is called "The Guinea Gew Hawk." It apparently has no relation to "The Gay Goshawk."
B. [How Come That Blood?]- Sung by Mrs. Ben Dryden, Fred, Texas, 1941.
This song presents several difficulties for transcription of the pitch. The singer omits the first line, starting somewhat uncertainly with the second. During the course of the first stanza she moves through several keys. By the second and third stanzas the pitch has stabilized to the version given in the transcription.
[music]
["How come that blood on your shirt sleeve,]
My son, come tell to me?
How come that blood on your shirt sleeve,
My son, come tell to me?"
"It is the blood of the old grey mare
That pulled the plow for me;
It is the blood of the old grey mare
That pulled the plow for me."
"That blood's too red for that,
My son, come tell to me,
How come that blood on your shirt sleeve,
My son, come tell to me?"
"It is the blood of the old grey hound
That chased the deer for me;
It is the blood of the old grey hound
That chased the deer for me."
"That blood's too red for that,
My son, come tell to me,
How come that blood on your shirt sleeve,
My son, come tell to me?"
"It is the blood of the old grey goose
That flew by the side of me;
It is the blood of the old grey goose
That flew by the side of me."
"That blood's too red for that,
My son, come tell to me,
How come that blood on your shirt sleeve,
My son, come tell to me?"
It is the blood of my own dear brother
That plowed by the side of me;
It is the blood of my own dear brother
That plowed by the side of me."
"What did you and your brother fall out about,
My son, come tell to me?"
(Lines 3 and 4 missing.)
"We fell out about that little Juniper tree
That grows under yander tree."
"What you gonna do when your father comes home,
My son, come tell to me?"
(Lines 3 and 4 missing.)
"I'll set my foot in a sailing boat
And sail across the sea."
"What you gonna do with your pretty little wife,
My son, come tell to me?"
(Lines 3 and 4 missing.]
'I'll set her foot by the side of my side,
Sail across the sea."
"What you gonna do with your pretty little children,
My son, come tell to me?"
(Lines 3 and, 4 missing.]
"I'll leave them here in youry care
Til I return to thee."
"When are you coming back
My son come tell me?
(Lines 3 and, 4 missing.]
''I'm coming back when the sun goes east and west
And that shall never be."