The Hangman- Pine Mt. Settlement School children (KY) 1916 Wells
[From Wells, the Ballad Tree, 1950. This version is apparently the same tradition as Jean Ritchie's version (see also Peggy Seeger's version). It has the extraneous floating stanza found in "Careless Love" and other songs ("You won't love. . .").
R. Matteson 2015]
THE HANGMAN (The Maid Freed from the Gallows, 95) - As sung by children in the Pine Mountain Settlement School, pine Mountain, Harlan County, Kentucky, to E. K. Wells, 1916.
Hangman, Hangman, slack up your rope;
Slack it for a while,
I look'd over yonder and I seen paw comin',
He's waiked for many a long mile.
Say, Paw, say, Paw, have-you brung me any gold,
Any gold for to pay my fine?
No, sir, No, sir, I've brung Ye no gold,
No gold for to pay your fine,
For I've just come for to see you hanged,
Hanged on the gallows line.
You won't love and it's hard to be beloved,
And it's hard to make up your fine;
You have broke the heart of many a true love,
True love, and You can't break mine.
Repeat, Substituting "Maw," "Sisters," "Brothers," etc. Ad lib. with the other necessary changes in wording. In the final stanza the true- love arrives:
Yes, sir, Yes Sir, I've brung ye some gold,
Some gold for to pay your fine,
For I've just come for to take you home
From out the gallows line.
(Omit the last three lines of music.)