Sweet William- sung by an ignorant mountain-girl C.A.Rogers (MS) 1864 Kittredge
[My date. From "Ballads and Songs," by Kittredge in JAFL 30-31, dated 1917. Kittredge's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
Communicated, 1917, by Mr. C. McPh. A. Rogers, to whom it was sent by Mr. John D. McInnis of Meridian, Miss. Mr. McInnis writes, April 4, 1917: “‘Sweet William’. ... I heard in the mountains of East Tennessee during the Civil War. It was sung by an ignorant mountain-girl, who accompanied herself with an accordion. The song still lives in the mountains. It was heard there two summers ago by a grandson of mine, who had heard me sing it.” Stanzas 1, 5, and 6 appear in part in “The Butcher's Boy” and elsewhere (see JAFL 29: 169–170).
H. "Sweet William," communicated Mr. C. A. Rogers from Mr. John D. McInnis of Meridian, Mississippi as heard during the Civil War (c.1864).
1. She sot down, she wrote a song,
She wrote it true, she wrote it long,
At ev'ry line she dropped a tear
And ev'ry word cried, "O my dear!"
2. She cast her boat upon the tide
That she might sail the ocean wide,
An' ev'ry ship that she passed by
She thought she heard her William cry.
3. "O sailors, O sailors, pray tell me true,
Has my sweet William been sailin' with you?"
"No, no, purty Miss, he isn't here,
He's drowned in some deep, I fear."
4. Her boat was cast upon the san',
She wandered fur in a furrin lan',
O'er valleys low, o'er hills so high,
Still she heard Sweet William cry.
5. Three Eastern men went ridin' by;
They spied her on a limb so high;
They tuk her down fuh to be at rest;
A turkle dove lit on her breast.
6. So dig her grave both deep and steep,
An' put the marble at the head and feet,
Cyarve on that stone a turtle dove
To signify she died of love.