Slack Your Rope- West (IN) c.1885 Brewster
[From: Ballads and Songs of Indiana by Paul G. Brewster; Indiana University Publications Folklore Series, 1940. His notes follow.
In Bartok's version (mentioned below) called "Feher Anna," Anna's brother Lazlo is imprisoned for stealing horses. Anna sleeps with Judge Horvat to free him, but is unsuccessful in sparing his life. She regales the judge with 13 curses (see Bob Dylan's version, "Seven Curses" also Judy Collins adapted it in 1963 titling it “Anathea”).
R. Matteson 2015]
17. THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS
(Child, No. 95)
Only one variant of "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" has been recovered. It is nearest, save for dialect, to "The Hangman's Tree," transmitted to Child by Miss Backus as "an old English song , . . brought over to Virginia before the Revolution" and included by him in his collection (V, 296).
For other American texts, see Barry, No. 25; Brown, p. 9; Campbell and Sharp, No. 24; Cox, No. 18; Davis, p. 360; Hudson, No. 15; Hudson, Folksongs, pp. 111-14; Journal, XIX, 22; XXI, 56; XXIV, 337 (melody only); XXVI, 175; XXX, 319; XIII, 272; Pound, Ballads, No. 13; Sandburg, p. 72; Scarborough, pp. 35, 39, 41; Scarborough, Song Catcher, pp. 197-200; C. A. Smith, pp. 6, 10; Smith, No. 10; Smith, Ballads, No. 10; Thomas, pp. 164-65; Wyman and Brockway, p. 44; Smith and Rufty, American Anthology, p. 37; JFSS, V, 228; Folk-Lore, VI, 306; Cambiaire, East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, pp. 15-16; Cox, Traditional Ballads, Mainly from West Virginiat p. 29; Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands, p. 93.
Hungarian versions are given in Buday and Ortutay (No. 38 "Az aspis kigyo") and Bartok, Hungarian Folk Music (No. 157). For an exhaustive study of this ballad, see Erich Pohl's "Die deutsche VolksBallads von der Losgekauften" (FFC, 105).
[Slack Your Rope] No title given. Communicated by Mr. John West, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. Mr. West, who is eighty-two, learned this song from his grandmother many years ago. March 7, 1935.
1. "Slack your rope, hangs-a-man;
O slack it for a while;
I think I see my father coming,
Riding many a mile.
2. "O Father, have you brought me gold,
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hanging
On the gallows tree?"
3. "I have not brought you gold;
I have not paid your fee,
But I have come to see you hanging
On the gallows tree."
4. "Slack your rope, hangs-a-man;
0 slack it for a while;
I think I see my mother coming,
Riding many a mile.
5. "0 Mother, have you brought me gold,
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hanging
On the gallows tree?"
6. "I have not brought you gold;
1 have not paid your fee,
But I have come to see you hanging
On the gallows tree."
7. "Slack your rope, hangs-a-man;
0 slack it for a while;
I think I see my brother coming,
Riding many a mile.
8. "0 Brother, have you brought me gold,
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hanging
On the gallows tree?"
9. "I have not brought you gold;
1 have not paid your fee,
But I have come to see you hanging
On the gallows tree."
10. "Slack your rope, hangs-a-man;
0 slack it for a while;
I think I see my sister coming,
Riding many a mile.
11. "0 Sister, have you brought me gold,
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hanging
On the gallows tree?"
12. "I have not brought you gold;
I have not paid your fee,
But I have come to see you hanging
On the gallows tree."
13. "Slack your rope, hangs-a-man;
O slack it for a while;
I think I see my lover coming,
Riding many a mile.
14. "O Lover, have you brought me gold,
Or have you paid my fee?
Or have you come to see me hanging
On the gallows tree?"
15. "Yes, I have brought you gold;
Yes, I have paid your fee,
Nor have I come to see you hanging
On the gallows tree."