Johnnie Dear- (US-AU) pre1926 Smith/Gordon
[Partial text from: Five Hundred Years of the Maid Freed from the Gallows- Reed Smith, 1928. He got his text from Robert W. Gordon in Adventure, July 23, 1926, pp. 189, 190.
Tyburn was a village in the county of Middlesex close to the current location of Marble Arch in present-day London. In 1571, the Tyburn Tree was erected near the modern Marble Arch. It's called the 'deadly nevergreen' or the great gallows.
Smith says it was collected in Australian but learned in the US. I've reconstructed the first part in brackets.
R. Matteson 2015]
Johnnie Dear
["Hold up your head, dear Johnnie![1]
Hold it up for a while!
I think I see your mother a-coming,
Walking many a mile."
"Have you brought me gold, mother?
Have you brought me fee?
Or have you come for to take me home
From off this Tyburn tree?"
"I've brought neither you gold, dear Johnnie,
I've neither brought you a fee,
But I have come for to see you hung
All on this Tyburn tree!"]
"Hold up your head, dear Johnnie!
Hold it up for a while!
I think I see your sweetheart a-coming,
Walking many a mile."
"Have you brought me gold, dear sweetheart?
Have you brought me fee?
Or have you come for to see me hung
Upon this Tyburn tree?"
"I have brought you gold, dear Johnnie,
I have brought you fee,
And I've come for to take you home
Away from this Tyburn tree!"
1. reconstructed stanzas 1-3