The Two Sisters- Nelson (TX-KY) pre1930 Dobie
[From Tone the Bell Easy, Dobie, 1932. It's hard to say exactly when this version was learned. I assume it was learned by the grandmother before 1876, but there's no way of telling. Dobie's note's follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
The Twa Sisters
(Child, No. 10)
This ballad is well known in the British Isles and in America. According to Child, in "all complete and uncorrupted forms of the ballad, either some part of the body of the cirowned girl is taken to furnish a musical instrument, a harp or viol, or the instrument is wholly made from her body." The most pleasing Child version is B, in which three strands of the girl's golden hair are used by her lover to string his viol. Neither of the following versions has anything of this touch of the fanciful.
"The Two Sisters" was contributed by A. B. Nelson, Fort Worth, Texas. As a child he learned it from his grandmother, Elizabeth Nelson, who was born and grew up near Maysville, Kentucky. She lived some three years in Arkansas before coming to Texas with her husband about 1876. She lived at Paradise, Texas. When asked by her grandson where he could find her songs in a book, she said, "Oh, I never saw them in a book. I just iearned them from folks." She knew many other old ballads, among them "Lord Lovel," which her grandson cannot recall. She died in 1930. An incomplete version of this song was communicated by Mr. Edison Uhls.
The Two Sisters- A.B. Nelson learned from his grandmother before 1930.
1. There was an old woman lived by the sea shore-
So bow down.
She had some daughters some three or four-
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
Oh, she had some daughters, some three or four-
So bow your bends to me.
2. The youngest one she caught a beau-
So bow down.
The oldest one she wanted one too-
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
Oh, the oldest one she wanted one too-
So bow you bends to me.
3. The youngest one's bought her a beaver hat-
So bow down.
The oldest one got mad at that-
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
Oh, the oldest one she got mad at thaL-
So bow your bends to me.
4. "O sister, O sister, come walk the sea shore
So bow down.
"And watch the ships come sailing o'er"
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
"And watch the ships come sailing o'er"-
So bow your bends to me.
5. And sister and sister they walked the sea shore-
So bow down.
The oldest one pushed the youngest one o'er-
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
The oldest one pushed the youngest one o'er,-
So bow your bends to me.
6. "O sister, O sister, pray lend me your glove,-
So bow down.
"O sister, O sister, pray lend me your glove, -
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me.
"O sister, O sister, pray lend me your glove"-
So bow your bends to me.
7. "I'll neither lend you my hand, nor my glove,-
So bow down"
"But I'll go home and I'll marry your love,
So bow your bends to me,
So bow your bends to me,
"But I'll go home and I'll marry your love,
So bow your bends to me.