The Dying Hobo- Harrell (VA) 1926 REC
[The textual transcription below is from Harrell's original recording in the Victor studios in New York on June 9, 1926. It was issued as Vi 20527. It has been reissued on CD on Kelly Harrell 'Vol 1 (1925-1926)' Document DOCD-8026.
Kelly Harrell of Virginia combined the first verse of "The Dying Hobo" with the ballad of George Collins. A recording of this version, and extensive notes on Clerk Colvill/Lady Alice, may be found on volume 7 of MacColl and Seeger's 'The Long Harvest' Argo ZDA 72. Whether Harrell's version was covered by Dick Justice in 1929 when he recorded his version titled, "One Cold December Day," is not known. The texts are very similar.
Subsequent versions with the Dying Hobo first verse were collected in Kentucky (Roberts), Virginia (Davis) and Missouri (Max Hunter), most likey based on the two recordings made in the 1920s.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
THE DYING HOBO- Kelly Harrell 1926
'Twas at a western water tank
One cold December day
And in an empty boxcar
A dying hobo lay
You see his girl in yonders hall
A-sewing her silk so fine
But when she heard poor George was dead
She laid her silks aside
She followed him up, she followed him down
She followed him to his grave
She fell upon her bending knees
She weeped, she mourned, she cried
"Oh daughter, o daughter what makes you weep so,
There's more young men than George."
"O mother, o mother, he's won of my heart
And now he's dead and gone."
"O take off his coffin lid
Lay back his linen so fine
And let me kiss his pale sweet lips
For I know he'll never kiss mine."
"You see that dove in yonders grove
It's flying from pine to pine
It's mourning for its own true love
Why can't I mourn for mine?"