John and William- (KY) 1914 McGill
[From Bronson, Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, vol. I, 1959, as from Josephine McGill's Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, 1917. À propos the tune, Bronson commented: "This beautiful variant has relations with Young Hunting (68) and Lady Gay (79)."
McGill named a list of informants but did not say which informant sang which ballad. McGill was from Louisville, KY and spent time studying music in NYC. She traveled to knott County, KY in the summer of 1914 and began collecting ballads.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
JOHN AND WILLIAM- Collected by Josephine McGill, 1914, from an unnamed singer in Knott or Letcher County, Kentucky
O John and William walked out one day
To view the iron band.
Says John to William, "At any price
We'd better turn home again."
"O no", says William, "That never can be
That we'll return again,
For I'm the one loves pretty Susanne
And I will murder thee."
"What will you tell to my mother dear,
When she askès for her son John?"
"I left him at the cottage school
His lessons for to learn."
"What will you tell to my father dear,
When he askès for his son John?"
"I left him in the high wild woods
A-learnin' his hounds to run."
"What will you tell to my pretty Susanne,
When she askès for her true love John?"
"I left him in the grave-lie deep,
Never more to return."
She mourned the fish all out of the sea,
The birds all out of the nest;
She mourned her true love out of his grave
Because that she could not rest.
"What do you want, my pretty Susanne,
What do you want with me?"
"A kiss or two from your pretty bright lips
Is all I ask of thee."
"Go home, go home, my pretty Susanne,
Go home, go home, said he;
If you weep and mourn all the balance of your days
You'll never more see me."