Lamkin- Cis Jones (KY) 1917 Sharp B
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians; collected by Cecil J. Sharp and Olive Dame Campbell; Edited by Maud Karpeles; 1932, Volume I. Notes from 1932 edition follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
No. 27. Lamkin.
Texts without tunes:—Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads y No. 93. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xiii. 117; xxix. 162.
Texts with tunes :—Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 61. E. M. Leather's Folk-Lore of Herefordshire, p. 199. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 212 ; ii. 111; p. 81. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 34. Folk-Songs of England, iv, p. 38 (also published in English Folk Songs, Selected Edition, ii. 24, and One Hundred English Folk-Songs, p. 62). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxxv. 344. British Ballads from Maine, p. 200. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 354 and 583.
Sharp diary 1917 page 234. Tuesday 14 August 1917 - Manchester
Maud not very well. This place is horribly insanitary and I am nervous about her. We go however to Goose Creek again, try Mrs Cis Jones with some result and then tramp 2 or 3 miles further on after the widow Mrs Polly Patrick. She sings some fairly good ones but owns she has not sung love songs for 25 years — "just like others about here" she adds ominously. Call on the Samples on our way back and at their suggestion on Mrs Cis Jones who they tell me used to sing Lamkin. She promises to study it and try to remember it for us. A very nice woman although an adherent of the Holiness sect. I am better — nights have been warmer, if days also — but I have a nasty hacking cough, throat rather than chest.
Sharp diary 1917 page 236. Thursday 16 August 1917 - Manchester — Oneida
Make a start in our jolt-wagon under the guidance of one William Sawyer at 8.15. The roads are just awful and the jolting indescribable! We first make a stop at Mrs Cis Jones who sings us a splendid version of Lamkin and several other fine songs assisted by Mrs Patrick and Mrs Nanny Smith who look in. Then we go on to Mrs Samples to say good bye. About half way a heavy rain comes on and Maud and I pay a call on Mr Jim Samples who sings us one or two nice songs and gives us dinner. Eventually after much jogging we arrive jolted, stiff & weary at Oneida. Miss Aldrich shows me my room, a very nice one and we settle in and make friends with the people here; Mr & Mrs Adams, the acting President, Mr & Mrs Walker, the business head are the chief ones.1 Food very spare & very indifferent. We shall find it hard to make a living if we stay long, but are lucky in having a friend in Miss Aldrich.
1: Oneida Baptist Institute, founded 1900 by James A. Burns.
B. Lamkin. Sung by Mrs. Cis JONES at Goose Creek, Manchester, Clay Co., Ky., Aug. 16, 1917
Heptatonic. Mixolydian.
1 The landlord to his lady:
I'm going a way from the Lamkin,
He'll be here this night,
2 What cares I for the Lamkin,
Or any other man,
When my doors are fast bolted,
My windows pinned down?
3 The Lamkin he came
By bed-time at night.
He knocked at the door,
And the false nurse let him in.
4 He says: Where is that noble lady?
I want to see her.
She's in her chambery
In the gallerays so high.
5 He says to the false nurse:
How can we get her down?
Pierce the little baby's heart
And the screams will bring her down.
6 She says: Nursie,
Don't let little baby cry.
Go feed it on breast-milk,
Go feed it on pie.
7 I fed it on breast-milk,
I fed it on pie.
Go put on one of those gowns
And light yourself down.
8 How can I go below stairs
By bed-time at night,
No fires a-burning,
No candle alight?
9 You've three as nice gowns
As ever the sun shined on.
Go put on one of those
And light yourself down.
10 As she was a-walking
In the gallerays so high,
The Lamkin he caught her
Right fast in his arms.
11 O spare me my life, sir,
While's ten o'clock in the night;
You may have as many guineas
As there's sand in the sea.
12 I don't want none of your guineas
As there's sand in the sea,
To hinder my new sword
From your lily-white neck.
13 O spare me my life, sir,
While's eleven o'clock in the night;
I'll give you my daughter Betsy
And a hundred fine things.
14 I don't want your daughter Betsy
And a hundred fine things
To hinder my new sword
From your lily-white neck.
15 She sent her daughter Betsy
In the gallerays so high
To get a silver basin
To catch her heart's blood.
16 As she were a-walking
In the gallerays so high,
She saw her noble father
Come riding close by.
17 She says: O father,
O father, you see,
The false nurse and the Lamkin
Has killed your lady.
18 If this be true you tell to me,
If this be true you see,
The false nurse shall be hung
In the gallerays so high,
And the Lamkin shall be burn-ed
In the furnace close by.