Rurey Bain- McCoy (NC) (no date given) c.1936 Niles B
[From The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles. University Press of Kentucky, 1961. Because Niles has recreated and changed ballads, his authentic ballads are suspect. Is this traditional? Seems like a recreation to me-- it is certainly unique and resembles no other traditional version. North Carolina in general was not a repository for this ballad. Aside from the Hicks/Harmon versions that stem from a single ancient version, the ballad is very rare.
R. Matteson 2014]
Rurey Bain- As sung by Walter McCoy (NC) (no date given) c.1936 Niles B
1. Crazy Sal, she lived in a wood,
She owned the wildest pig.
His legs were long and his backbone sharp,
His tushed powerful big, big , big,
His tushed powerful big.
2. Young Rurey Bain he drew his spear,
Then with a mighty roar,
Thrashing down the tallest trees
Here come this mighty boar, boar, boar,
Here come this mighty boar.
3. Then Rurey drew his pointed sword
And swung with all his might,
And there the boar lay moanin',
His head was cut off quite, quite, quite,
His head was cut off quite.
4. "Why did you kill my lovely boar?
He always did me good,
A-wandering where the nuts did fall,
A-rooting for his food, food, food,
A-rooting for his food."
5. A many a man had fit that boar
With swords, some new, some old.
But Rurey Bain had a silver blade
All tipped with a point of gold, gold, gold,
All tipped with a point of gold.
6. Now when the fight was ended,
Crazy Sal was slain,
And they buried the boar and his mistress
With the body of Rurey Bain, Bain, Bain,
With the body of Rurey Bain.