The Three Sisters- Sung by Mr. Nuel Walton at Mt. Fair, Va., Sept. 26, 1916 - Sharp Version D; Davis J
[My title, even though there were three sisters- this is about the oldest and youngest. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Sharp/Campbell 1916; also Sharp/Karpeles 1932, version D. Other verses and be used to fill out this version- since there were only two stanzas.
Davis included this in the 1929 Traditional Ballads from Virginia, version J. Sharp's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
Notes from Sharp 1917: 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.
[The Three Sisters]- Walton (Va.) 1916- Sharp Version D
Heptatonic. Mode i, a + b (mixolydian influence). Sung by Mr. Nuel Walton at Mt. Fair, Va., Sept. 26, 1916
1. There was an old lady in the north country,
The bough were given to me.
There was an old lady in the north country,
The bough were given to me,
And she had daughters one, two, three
Lover be true, true to my lover, love and my love be true to me.
2 That young man bought a beaver hat,
The oldest one thought hard of that.