Jefferson City- Knefelkamp (IL) 1938 Neely A
[From Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois pages 145-148 by Charles Neely published in 1938. Neely comments, "This is a very popular ballad in southern Illinois."
R. Matteson 2017]
A. [Jefferson City] Obtained by Miss Irene Mache, Belleville. She learned it from Henrietta Knefelkamp, also of that city who learned the song from a neighbor.
In Jefferson City where I did dwell,
A butcher boy I loved so well,
He courted me my heart away,
But with me now he will not stay.
Oh, grieve, oh grieve, oh tell me why,
Because he had more gold than I;
But gold will melt and silver fly;
Then he will be as poor as I.
She went upstairs; the bed she made
And not a word to her mother she said.
"Oh, what's the matter, Daughter dear?"
"It's not to tell you Mother dear."
She took a chair and set me down
“With pen and ink I'll write it down.”
In every line she dropped a tear;
In every verse was “Willie dear.”
Her father came home from work that night
And asking for his daughter dear,
He went upstairs; the door he broke
And found her hanging on a rope.
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