Near Bridgewater- Eliza Pace (KY) 1917 Sharp E
[My title. From Sharp and Campbell I, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians I, 1917 and 1932. The 1932 notes follow.
This version is similar to "Bridgewater Merchant" from A Pioneer Songster dated. circa 1820. The first stanza given by Pace can be compared to the first stanza from Pioneer Songster.
See also: IN BRIDGEWATER TOWN. Sung by Eliza Pace. Hyden, Ky., Alan and Elizabeth Lomax, 1937. 1468 A
R. Matteson 2016]
No. 48. In Seaport Town.
Texts without tunes :—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xx. 259; xxix 168. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 305 (see also further references).
Texts with tunes:—Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i. 160; ii. 42; v. 123. Miss Broadwood's Traditional Songs and Carols, p. 28. Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 12 (also published in English Folk-Songs, Selected Edition, i. 4, and One Hundred
English Folk-Songs, p. 4). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxxv. 359.
Sharp diary 1917 page 284. Wednesday 3 October 1917 - Hyden
Directly after breakfast Maud and I discuss & write out dance. There are 13 figures. We find we know it quite well but there are a few points upon which we have doubts. Have more or less a quiet day, pumping Mrs Eliza Pace again and getting a further installment of good songs. But at our first visit we are pursued by a lot of lazy gossiping females who come in to see the show! There is no privacy in this country! So we retire and call upon Mrs Linda Walker, a coloured "lady" who sings very beautifully to us. Then to Mrs Pace again who gave me more songs. In the evening young Lewis comes in and I go through all the figures with him and clear up the few remaining doubtful points. He is a clear headed little man, nicely dressed, regular mountain manners and a good specimen of the mountaineer who has gone up a peg in the world.
E. Near Bridgewater - Sung by Mrs. ELIZA PACE at Hyden, Leslie Co., Ky., Oct. 3, 1917
Heptatonic. Mixolydian influence.
1 Near Bridgewater a rich man lived,
He had two sons and a daughter dear.
Was like by death by arabian (sic)[1]
And filled his children's heart with fear.
2 These young men to the sea did venture
To bring whatever was for gain.
He was a prencess[2] bound and strong indebted,
They sent him factory[3] over the sea.
3 This youth was neat and comely,
Straight and complete in every limb.
Their sister placed her heart's affections
On this young man unbeknownst to them.
4 One day it chanced her youngest brother
For to see them court and play.
He told the secret to the other,
This to him then he did say:
5 O now he thinks he'll gain our sister,
Perhaps he thinks her for to have,
But their courtship will soon be ended,
We'll press him headlong to the grave.
6 Now for to end this cruel matter
And fill their sister's heart with woe,
This poor young man they did flatter
With them a-hunting for to go.
7 In the backwoods where no one used
The briers they were overgrown,
O there they made a bloody slaughter,
There they had him killed and thrown.
8 They returned home to their sister.
She asked where was the servant-man.
I ask because you seem to whisper.
Tell me, brothers, if you can.
9 We lost him at our game a-hunting,
We never more could him see.
I tell you plainly I'm afrighted.
What makes you examine me?
10 The next night as she lie sleeping
He came to her bed-side and stood,
All covered o'er in tears a-weeping,
All wallowed o'er in gores of blood.
11 The next morning she got up
With many a sigh and bitter groan.
To the place she then returned,
Where she found him killed and thrown.
12 She said: My love, I will stay with you
Until my heart doth burst with woe.
She felt sharp hunger creeping;
Homewards she was obliged to go.
13 She returned to her brothers.
They asked her what made her look so orn[4].
O by the loss you've acted treason[5]
In killing your poor servant man.
footnotes:
1. ? This stanza and version is similar to Stevens/Douglas MS which has:
Of life by death they were bereaved,
Which filled their children's heart with care.
2. 'prentice
3. factor
4. probably "wan"; maybe: forlorn
5. cf. George Vinton Graham's 1938 recording