Rich Old Farmer- Paul B. Lacy (KY) 1964 Boswell
[From: Kentucky Folklore Record - Volume 18, 1972- page 75. From "Song To Sing" by George W. Boswell. His notes follow. Apparently the exact text "There Was A Rich Old Farmer" is missing from this version or the first stanza is missing- I do not have this booklet.
R. Matteson 2016]
This song is a variant of Laws 35, "The Wexford Girl" (of "The Knoxville Girl").
There Was A Rich Old Farmer (Knoxville Girl) - Sung by Paul Brooks Lacy at Stacy Forks, Morgan County, Kentucky, November 13, 1964, from the tradition of his family.
I went to see this charmin' girl
At eight o'clock last night
I asked her to take a walk with me
Across the meadows wide.
We walked and walked all hand in hand
'Til we came to the level ground
I drew a stick from the side of the walk
And knocked this fair girl down.
Then raising from her bended knee
So mournful she did cry
"Oh, John, oh, John, don't murder me,
For I'm unprepared to die."
I took her by her curly hair
And raised her to her feet
I threw her in the water
That runs so cold and deep.
I went back home at twelve o'clock
Was half past twelve last night
I woke my dear of mother
I woke her in a fright.
"Oh, John, oh, John, what have you done?
With a blood-stain on your clothes?"
The answer I gave back to her
Was bleeding at the nose.
I asked her for a candle-stick
To light me up to bed
But the mourns and groans of the Knoxville girl
Came rolling through my head.
And the mourns and groans of the Knoxville girl
No comfort could I find
The gates of hell stood open wide
Before my eyes did shine.