The Highwayman- (NC) c.1928 Blaylock/Brown M
[From the Brown Collection of NC Folklore, II, 1952 and Volume IV, music. Listed as 30. The Maid Freed from the Gallows (Child 95).
Their notes follow. For a similar text see Henry, Version E, which is also possibly taken from Charlie Poole's 1926 recording, The Highwayman.
R. Matteson 2015]
For preceding records of this ballad and its relation to theories of communal origin, see BSM 66, adding to the references there given New Hampshire (NGMS 117-18), Kentucky (BTFLS in 95), Tennessee (SFLQ XI 129-30), North Carolina (FSRA 35-6), Florida (FSF 295-9), Arkansas (OFS I 146-8), Missouri (OFS I 143-4, 145), Ohio (BSO 62-4), Indiana (BSI 125-7), and Michigan (BSSM 146-8 — this last being the "golden ball" form, rare in this country). In only half of the North Carolina texts is it a woman that waits to be freed from the gallows ; in versions B C E K L it is a man, and in D the sex is indeterminate. D is the only one of our texts in which the song has been turned into a play.
M. 'The Highway Man.' From the John Burch Blaylock Collection. [During the years 1927-32 Mr. John Burch Blaylock, of Yanceyville, Caswell county, collected 274 songs from Caswell and adjoining counties.] This differs widely from the ordinary versions by beginning (stanzas 1-3) with matter from widespread convicts' songs.
1 As I went down to the old depot
To see the train roll by,
I thought I saw my dear old girl
Hang her head and cry.
2 The night was dark and stormy;
It sure did look like rain.
Not a friend in the whole wide world,
And no one knew my name.
3 No one knew my name, poor boy,
No one knew my name;
Not a friend in the whole wide world.
And no one knew my name.
4 'Go away, Mr. Judge, go away, Mr. Judge,
Just wait a little while.
I think I saw my dear old girl
Walk for miles and miles.
5 'Dear girl, have you brought me silver?
Dear girl, have you brought me gold?
Have you walked these long, long miles
To see me hanged upon the hangman's pole?'
6 'Dear boy, I've brought you silver,
Dear boy, I've brought you gold;
I have not walked these long, long miles
To see you hanged upon the hangman's pole.'
7 She took me from the scaffold;
She untied my hands;
The tears ran down the poor girl's cheeks:
'I love this highway man.'