The Three Sisters- Blackard (VA) 1918 Sharp K
[My Title. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp/Karpeles 1932, version K, w/music. The additional text is from Sharp's MS, as it appears in Bronson as No. 59. Sharp's notes follow. Sharp got the name wrong, the informant is Joe "Dad" Blackard a clawhammer banjo player who was recorded with his group at Ralph Peer's 1927 Bristol Sessions. The recordings were released under The Shelor Family and as Dad Blackard's Moonshiners.
At the time Sharp recorded Blackard, he worked as a postman, a job he held until 1924.
R. Matteson 2014]
Notes from Sharp, 1917 edition: No. 4. The Two Sisters
Texts without tunes:—Child, No. 10.
Texts with tunes:—Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i., pp. 40 and 42. Journal of the Folk-Song Society, i., 253, and ii., 282. English County Songs, p. 118. Northumbrian Minstrelsy, p. 61. Child, v., pp. 411 and 412 (three tunes). "Binnorie," arranged
by Dr. Arthur Somervell. American variants:—Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii., 130 (with tune); xviii., 130 (without tune); xix., 233.
K. [Three Sisters] -Sung by Mr. JOE [Dad] BLACKETT [sic] at Meadows of Dan, Va., Aug. 28, 1918
There was an old woman who lived by the sea,
Bow down,
There was an old woman who lived by the sea,
The vows she made to me,
There was an old woman who[1] lived by the sea,
And daughters she had one, two, three.
I'll be true to my love
If my love'll be true to me.
There was a young sailor to see them come,
And he chose for his love the youngest one.
He gave to the youngest a beaver hat,
And the oldest she thought hard of that.
O sister, O sister, come to the shore,
And see the ships come sailing o'er.
As they were walking the salty brim,
The oldest pushed the youngest in.
O sister, O sister, give me your hand
And I will give you my house and land.
I will not give you my hand nor glove,
For all I want is your true love.
1. 1932 edition omits "who."