The Father's Murder- Gainer (WV) no date- c. late 1960s
[From: Folk Songs From the West Virginia Hills; Gainer, 1975 and also West Virginia University on-line. This is a ballad re-creation by Gainer, attributed to W. A. Thomas in his book. Gainer sings the last stanza differently.
Gainer can't help re-creating Percy's famous Child B theme with the son murdering the father and implicating the mother at the end. There are no traditional versions as such (not even Percy's which was likely tampered with) so clearly he wrote this- the problem is that he attributes it to an informant, which is beyond misleading.
Gainer made the recordings on-line when he began preparing for Boette's book (1971) and his book (1975) so I assume this is from the late 1960s. The following bio is from West Virginia University online, which fails to say that he lost his father when he was just one and lived on his grandfather's farm shortly thereafter (c. 1905).
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Patrick Ward Gainer (1904-1981)
Born in Parkersburg but reared in rural Gilmer County, Gainer grew up within a family bearing a rich singing tradition. He often credited his grandfather F.C. Gainer with providing his early musical education and his chief inspiration.
After attending the Glenville Normal School, Gainer enrolled at West Virginia University in the 1920s. At the time the university was recognized as a national hub of folk music scholarship. His instructors included John Harrington Cox, author of the first significant American folksong study- Folk Songs of the South (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925) and Louis Watson Chappell whose landmark book John Henry: A Folklore Study (Jena: Frommanische Verlag, 1933) established a standard in ballad scholarship. It was under their tutelage that Gainer first caught the ballad hunting bug. Together with Chappell, and at other times with fellow student and Gilmer Countian Carey Woofter, Gainer made his initial forays into the countryside in search of surviving remnants of a fading musical tradition.
THE FATHER'S MURDER Gainer mentions that "the tune varies in the last stanza." No date is given- the recording probably dates back to 1960s. The melody could be from the 1920s when Gainer and Woofter began collecting folk-songs and ballads in West Virginia. Attributed to a W. A. Thomas in his 1975 book.
[Listen- Patrick Gainer]
"Oh why is your sleeve so red with blood
And why so sad are ye?"
"Oh I have killed my old fox hound,
That chased the fox for me,
That chased the fox for me."
"Oh it is too red for your old fox hound,
Now son the truth tell me."
"Oh I have killed my old gray horse,
That plowed the field for me,
That plowed the field for me."
"Oh it's too red for your old grey horse,
Now son the truth tell me."
"Oh I have killed my father dear,
And I've no more but he- O
And I've no more but he."
"Oh, what will you leave to your mother dear,
Now son the truth tell me."
"The curse of hell is left to thee,
For such you taught to me- Oh!