Kitty Morey- Bundy (WI) 1946 REC
[The lines are separated in an unusual way. Usually:
Verse 1.
Come all you girls, and all you boys,
And listen to my story.
I'll tell the plan I fell upon,
To steal Miss Kitty Morey.
Refrain: Aye tittyattying ayeay ayeay,
Aye tittyattying ayeo.
Stanza 3 needs to be edited to make sense:
My sister Sal, [knew]
[All] about the matter
There is a recording on the site: Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946.
R. Matteson 2013]
Title: Kitty Morey
Creator: Bundy, Winifred, b. 1884?
Date: 1946-07-23
Description: Place of recording: Madison, Wisconsin
Miss Bundy learned this song from her brother Ned. She used to sing it at school as a very little girl, and wondered why the boys liked it so well, until her older sister found out she was singing it and put a stop
From: Wisconsin Folksong Collection, 1937-1946; The Mills Music Library Digital Collections
Kitty Morey- As sung by Winifred Bundy; Originally in F/d; 07-23-1946 Madison, WI
Verse 1.
Come all you girls,
And all you boys,
And listen to my story.
I'll tell the plan
I fell upon, to
Steal Miss Kitty Morey.
Refrain: Aye tittyattying ayeay ayeay,
Aye tittyattying ayeo.
Verse 2.
I went down to
Miss Kitty's hall
Just like a jolly fellow.
I told her that
The plumpen grape, were
Getting ripe and mellow.
(refrain)
Verse 3.
I told her that
I suited her,
And that I did not flatter.
I told her that
My sister Sal, [knew] [1]
Nothing about the matter.
(refrain)
Verse 4.
I did not have
To ask her twice,
She put on her best bonnet.
My heart was beatting
mighty fast, and
[Up] the field we ran it.
(refrain)
Verse 5.
"And now we're here
And all alone,
And no one knows the matter.
Yes you must die
Or else comply, for
I've no time to flatter."
(refrain)
Verse 6.
She seemed quite pleased,
My hand she squeezed,
"There's but one thing I fear sir
It's that my Pa
May come this way, and
He would find us here sir."
(refrain)
Verse 7.
"But if you'll climb
The highest tree
That rises in this bower.
And if my father
Keeps away, we'll
Spend a happy hour."
(refrain)
Verse 8.
And there she stood
Beneath the tree
Until I had ascended
"It's get you down
As you got up, for
Now your fun is ended."
(refrain)
Verse 9.
"You look just like
An owl" she said
"Your company I shun sir.
Go eat your plums
And suck your thumbs, for
I'm a going to run, sir.
(refrain)
Verse 10.
So Katie heeled
It o'er the plain
And left me there distracted.
I ripped and swore
My shirt I tore, to
Think how I had acted.
(refrain)
Verse 11.
And three months later
From that day
Fair Kate and I were buried (married).
And three months only
After that, a
Lovely son she carried.
(refrain)
Verse 12.
It's time to hush
This foolish song,
It's time to quit all rhyming.
For every time
This baby squalls, by
George I feel like climbing.
(refrain)
My Footnote: 1. My sister Sal, [knew]
[All] about the matter.
Critical Commentary
HST notes: [Classified as "Risque"] Winifred Bundy. Learned from her brother - she used to sing it at school when a very little girl and wondered why the boys liked it so well - until her older sister found out she was singing it and put a stop to it.
Editor's notes: Gardner and Chickering write that this song was printed in an American broadside [Kittredge] of about 1830 and may be a modern version of "The Baffled Knight" (Child, No. 112) (393). Alternate titles/related songs: "The Baffled Knight," "Katie Moray," "Kitty O'Noory," "Katy Dorey" (etc., with different spellings).
Sources:
Campbell, Olive Dame and Cecil J. Sharp, colls. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians: Comprising 122 Songs and Ballads, and 323 Tunes. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1917. "Katie Moray."
Gardner, Emelyn Elizabeth, and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, colls. and eds. Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan. Hatboro, Pa.: Folklore Associates, 1967. Reprinted from original, c1939. "Kitty O'Noory."
Lomax, John A., and Alan Lomax, colls and comps. Our Singing Country; A Second Volume of American Ballads and Folk Songs. Ruth Crawford Seeger, music ed. New York: Macmillan, 1941. "Katy Dorey," tune different.
Sharp Cecil J., and Maud Karpeles, colls. Eighty English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. London: Faber and Faber, 1968. "Katie Morey."
K.G