Poor Sally- Richards (VA) 1918 Sharp/Davis
[My title. From Sharp's MS, the text is 3140 and is titled Death of Queen Jane/Brown Girl; the tune is 4453 and has been published in EFFSA I, 1932 p. 303 under The Brown Girl, Child 295. It was supplied to Dr. Smith in a letter dated September 1, 1918 and then received by Davis who published it as a version of "Queen Jane" in Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929. Davis did not know, of course, that it was to be published in 1932 with tune. It is similar to the Sturgill recording made in Norton, Virginia in 1969 titled "Queen Jane." Sturgill sang the ballad tune in two line stanzas.
Only 3 stanzas are from Queen Jane, the name and the other stanzas are from Child 295.
Davis' note follow. He does not provide the date collected or informant.
R. Matteson 2015]
THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE
(Child, No. 170)
Only a fragment of "The Death of Queen Jane" has been recovered in Virginia, in interesting combination with the Virginia song of "The Brown Girl" (No. 50). In sending this ballad to Dr. smith, Mr. Sharp wrote as follows, September 1, 1918: "You will be interested in the copy-of 'The Death of Queen Jane,' which I herewith enclose, and which you will see is a delightful mixture, owing to the intrusion of 'The Brown Girl,' brought about, no doubt, by the doctor-and-bedside incident. Another singer in Bedford County (Va.) gave me a very corrupt version of 'The Brown Girl' and told me that the title of the song was 'King Henry.' This puzzled me at the time, but the mystery has now been solved. I should add that the tune to the text I am enclosing is a -remarkably fine one, one of the best that I have found in Virginia or any-where else." Unfortunately, in the excitement of the war news of the time, Mr. Sharp failed to send the tune, which therefore cannot be included here. Pending its receipt, Dr. Smith withheld his Bulletin announcement of this find. No mention of this ballad, therefore, appears in the Virginia Bulletin, nor can the present editor discover that any collector except Mr. Sharp has found it in America.
'The full ballad of "The Death of Queen Jane" is a threnody of the wife of King Henry the Eighth, Jane Seymour, who, history records, died twelve days after the birth of Prince Edward on October 12, 1537. According to the ballad, Queen Jane is grievously ill, and begs for surgery to save her unborn child. King Henry is sent for, but he refuses to sacrifice the mother for the child. The operation, however, becomes necessary, the boy is delivered and christened amid rejoicing, but the mother dies and the funeral is held amid a general lamentation.
Of the ballad which follows, only three stanzas (1, 2, and 8) belong definitely to "The Death of Queen Jane," though the name of the woman - Sally, not Jane-is that found in American texts of "The Brown Girl." Stanza 3, where the song first becomes sidetracked from the former ballad to the latter, is reasonably common to both, though it belongs more definitely to "The
Brown Girl." Stanzas- 4, S, 6, and 7 are also from " The Brown Girl." Except for the introduction of the royal suitor, King Henry, and the mourning stanza, the ballad here given does not differ materially from American versions of "The Brown Girl" in which the girl, Sally, is no longer brown and in which the sexes of the lovers are reversed. It is much like " Barbara Allen " with the
ill lover changed from a man to a woman and the second death omitted. The title is an identification, not a local title.
[Poor Sally] "The Death of Queen Jane"/ "The Brown Girl"). Sung by Mrs. Francis Richards at Callaway, Franklin County, Va., Aug. 16, 1918. Collected by Cecil J. Sharp and Miss Karpeles.
1 Poor Sally was sick,
Affiicted to her bed.
There's none knew what ailed her,
Or could relieve her from pain.
2 King Henry was sent for
On horseback and speed,
In the need of poor Saliy,
In the time of her need.
3 "Am I the doctor
Was sent for to-day?"
"O yes, you're the doctor
Can kill or can cure,
And without your assistance
I am ruined, yes, I'm sure."
4 "I courted you with honor,
You slighted me with scorn.
I'll remind you of things, girl,
Of the time past and gone."
S "Of the time past and gone,
Forget and forgive,
And 'low me two minutes
And let me still live."
6 "I'll allow you no minutes
Nor years to live,
But dance on your grave
Whilst you lie in cold clay."
7 It's off of her fingers
Pulled diamond rings twice three.
"Here, take those and wear them
While you're dancing on me."
8 O black was the mourning,
And yellow was the band,
And white was poor Sally,
Poor Sally of time.