Loving Henry- Nimrod Workman (KY-WV) 1978 Recording
[From Mother Jones' Will , Rounder 0076, LP (1978), trk # 17. Liner notes follow. Workman (November 5, 1895 - November 26, 1994) grew up in Kentucky and about the age of 14 moved to West Virginia, then spent the end of his life in Tennessee. No date is given but I'd guesstimate he learned this by the time he was thirty (1925).
R. Matteson 2014]
17. Loving Henry (Roud 47, Child 68) from Mother Jones' Will , Rounder 0076, LP (1978), trk # 17. Child has this as Young Hunting, but Nimrod's nomenclature is more common within America (sometimes as Lord Henry). The version that has been most commonly imitated within the revival derives from a 78 by Dick Justice of Logan County, West Virginia entitled Henry Lee (it was reissued on the celebrated Anthology of American Folk Music. Justice was an associate of Frank Hutchinson, whom Nimrod claimed to have known, although he could provide no details on their encounters. Jimmy Tarlton recorded another version on a hillbilly 78 and traditional American versions have been more recently recorded by Maggie Hammons Parker, Rounder 1504/05; Ella Parker, Folkways 3809 and George Landers, Rounder 0028. Here Nimrod employs the same tune as he used for The House Carpenter on MTCD505-6.
According to Mike Yates: Loving Henry, on the other hand, is rather let down by its tune, namely the one that Appalachian singers almost always use for the ballad of The House Carpenter. (You can hear Nimrod singing The House Carpenter, along with a few other songs and ballads, on the Musical Traditions four-CD set Meeting's a Pleasure. Folksongs of the Upper South MTCD505-6 and MT507-8).
LOVING HENRY- Nimrod Workman
"Come in, come in, Loving Henry," she said
"And stay all night with me.
I'll make your bed as pure as gold
And white as ivory."
"No, I can't come in, nor I won't come in
Nor stay all night with you.
That girl that I left in New Orleans,
She will think that I proved untrue."
But he leant over across the fence
To take a kiss or two
And a penhold knife she held in her hand
She pierced him through and through.
She dug a grave in her own backyard,
She dug it all six by three.
"Just stay right there, Loving Henry," she said,
" 'Til the meat drops from your bones.
That girl that you left in New Orleans
Think you a long time coming home."
"Fly down, fly down, you pretty little bird,
Come and rest upon my knee;
I'll make your cage as pure as gold
And hang her on yon willow tree."
"I can't fly down nor I won't fly down,
Nor rest upon your knee.
A girl that would murder her own true love
Would kill a little bird like me."
"If I had my cedar bow,
Arrow and my string,
I'd shoot a dart slap through your heart
No more you would sit and sing."
"If you had your cedar bow,
Arrow and your string
I'd fly to the top of yon tall hill
There I would sit and sing."