Three Little Babes- Moore (TN-VA) 1927 Davies/Lornell
[From the online article: Across the Blue Mountains-An Appalachian and Adirondack field trip by Gwilym Davies 1997. Gwilym Davies Note: This song has died out in oral tradition in the British Isles where it was called The Wife of Usher's Well, but it is still found regularly in the USA, especially in the Appalachian area.
Also from Digital Appalachia, 1977. Spence Moore (b. 1919) learned the ballad from his mother (c. 1927). He moved from eastern Tennessee to Konnarock, Virginia in 1945. Moore recorded it with guitar for Kip Lornell in 1977 (Digital Appalachia)
Listen: http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/Ferrum/id/314/rec/3
R. Matteson 2015]
My first excursion was in November 1997 when, armed with my DAT recorder, I set off for the town of Chilhowie in Virginia to meet Spencer Moore, aged 78. Eventually I tracked down Mr. Moore in his modest cabin just a few miles outside of the town and he immediately welcomed me in and proceeded to sing me some of the songs that his father had taught him. When I asked whether he had met any English people before, he told me that he had met Shirley Collins in the late 50s, who had visited him in the company of Alan Lomax. Spencer remembered Shirley with great affection - but then, who doesn't. play Sound ClipOne of the most interesting of his songs is his father's version of The Wife of Usher's Well, which he calls Three Little Babes [sound clip]. He accompanies all his songs with his vigorous guitar picking in the local style. It has been remarked by other collectors that the influence of the guitar on the local tradition has been to alter the modal character of the old tunes, and this is possibly the case with Spencer's songs. Be that as it may, he is a very lively performer, singing with an energy and glee that belies his age. Apart from Three Little Babes, Spencer also sang a number of old songs including The Devil and the Farmer's Wife, The Butcher Boy and Pretty Polly. Some of his songs are clearly for dancing, such as Cumberland Gap and Jimmy Sutton, well-known play party songs in the area. An added delight for the day I spent with Spencer was that a neighbour of his, a lady, dropped in and proceeded to do some 'flatfooting' as the local step-dancing is called, to his lively guitar picking. I knew most of the dance tunes that he played, including Soldier's Joy, but a new one to me was one that he called Old Jericho. Spencer's father had been a banjo player and Spencer's guitar style sounds very akin to banjo picking.
Three Little Babes (Child 79, Roud 196) recorded 29 November 1997 from Spencer Moore (78) of Chilhowie, Virginia
There was a bride, a most beautiful bride
Three little babes had she
She sent them away to a northern college
To learn their grammaree.
They hadn't been away but a little while
'Bout three months and a day
'Til death spread wide all over the land
And took her babes away.
Oh, Saviour dear, cried the beautiful bride
Who used to wear a crown
Send to me my three little babes
Tonight or in the morning soon.
But it being close to Christmas time
And the nights being long and cold
Down come running those three little babes
Into their mother's home.
She fixed them a table in the backside room
Spread over with bread and wine
Come and eat and drink, my three little babes
Come and eat and drink of mine.
We can't eat your bread, sweet mother dear
Neither can we drink your wine
For yonder stands my sweet Saviour
From this we must resign.
She fixed them a bed in the backside room
Spread over with a nice clean sheet
On top of that was a golden spread
She fixed them a place to sleep.
Take it off, take it off, sweet mother dear
Take it off, then again said he
How can we stay in this wide wicked world
When there's a better place for me.