Little Margaret- E. Ramsey (NC) 1980 Yates REC
[From: Far in the Mountains; Volumes 1 & 2 of Mike Yates' 1979-83 Appalachian Collection. Mike Yates notes follow.
"Little" is been changed from "Liddy," originally "Lady," and as similar version (at least by title) is her husband's brother Obray Ramsey and also Bascon Lamar Lunsford as well as Dillard Chandler and other Madison County singers. Two members of the Hensley family recorded this ballad (see Yates notes).
R. Matteson 2014]
Evelyn and Douston Ramsey
Evelyn and Douston had a small tobacco farm in the deep mountains of Madison County. Douston was the brother of the well-known Madison County singer and banjo-player Obray Ramsey. Some years before my visit Evelyn had organized a small annual music festival, but after about three years it began to get out of hand, someone was stabbed during a fight, and the festival folded. I stayed with Evelyn and Douston for a few days and really enjoyed being driven through the neighbourhood by them, listening to them singing and telling local stories. They reminded me of something that Cecil Sharp had once said about the Hensley family of Carmen. "My experience has been very wonderful so far as the people and their music is concerned...I spent three days, from 10a.m. to 5p.m., with a family in the mountains consisting of parents and daughter, by name Hensley. All three sang and the father played the fiddle. Maud and I dined with them each day, and the rest of the time sat on the verandah while the three sang and played and talked, mainly about the songs." One ballad, collected from Rosie Hensley, was Fair Ellender and Sweet William, a version of which I recorded from Evelyn.
Versions of the Old-world ballad Fair Margaret and Sweet William have turned up repeatedly in the American South. Cecil Sharp collected three English versions, and seventeen Appalachian ones, including two sets from Sodom Laurel singers. Early versions appear in Rimbault's Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy's Reliques (1850) and Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time (1855 - 59). A 1950's Folkways recording by Bascomb Lamar Lunsford is available on cassette from Smithsonian Folkways.
32. Little Margaret (Child 74, Roud 253)- (Sung by Evelyn Ramsey at her home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, NC. 29.8.80)
Spoken: Little Margaret
Little Margaret is sitting in her high hall door
Combing back her long yellow hair
She saw Sweet William and his new made bride
Go riding by so near
She threw down her ivory comb
Threw back her long yellow hair
Said, 'I'll go down and bid him farewell
And never more go there.'
It was late in the night
They were fast asleep
Little Margaret 'peared all dressed in white
Standing at their bed feet.
Said, 'How do you like your snow-white pillow?
How do you like your sheets?
How do you like that pretty fair maid
Who lies in your arms asleep?'
'Very well do I like my snow-white pillow,
Well do I like my sheets.
Much better do I like that pretty fair maid
Who stands at my bed feet.'
He called for his serving man to go
Saddle his dapple roan.
And he rode to her father's house that night
And knocked on the door alone.
Said, 'Is Little Margaret in her room?
Or is she in the hall?'
'Little Margaret's in her cold black coffin
With her face turned t'ward the wall.'
'Unfold, unfold those snow-white robes
Be they ever so fine.
For I want to kiss those cold, cold lips,
For I know they'll never kiss mine.'
First he kissed her on the chin.
Then he kissed her cheek.
And then he kissed her cold corpsy lips,
And he fell in her arms asleep.