Katie Morey- House (NC) 1916 Sharp B
[This version is from English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; Comprising 122 Songs and Ballads, and 323 Tunes With Lyrics & sheet Music; Collected by Olive Dame Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp, published 1917.
Sharp's notes: No. 62. Katey Morey.
The tune is a variant of "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow," several versions of which are given in The Journal of the Folk-Song Society, v., 110-113.]
Katie Morey- House (NC) 1916 Sharp B
1. Come all you fair and tender ladies,
Come listen to my story.
I laid for to fool Miss Katie Morey
To my lie twad-de-ling die-ay,
To my lie twad-de-ling die-o.
2. He went unto her father's house,
Just like a clever fellow
He told her that the grapes and plums
Were getting ripe and mellow.
To my lie twad-de-ling die-ay,
To my lie twad-de-ling die-o.
The rest of the verses are sung like the second verse with the exception of the fourth, in which the first four lines are sung as in the second verse and the remaining three as in the first.
3 He told her that his sister Anne
Was down in yonders valley,
And wanted her for to come down there
And spend one half an hour.
4 As they went sporting through the fields
She squeezed his hand and seemed well pleased.
There ain't but one thing I fear, sir,
And that is my old father,
And he's down this way and he'll see us here together.
I'll go and strive to climb yonder tree
Till he get's away, sir.
5 She stood and gazed upon him
For to see how high he 'scended.
Your ugly looks I do disdain;
You look just like an owl, sir.
6 You may eat your grapes and suck your stems,
For I am a-going to the house, sir.
And every time she looks at me and smiles,
It makes me think of climbing.