Waxford Girl- John Galusha (NY) 1941 Warner
[From: Warners' "Traditional American Folk Songs" 1984.
John Galusha from upstate New York was in his 80s when this was collected- so it could date back to the 1800s.
R. Matteson 2016]
Waxford Girl - sung by John Galusha of Minerva, New York, 1941.
It was in the town of Waxford
I did live and dwell;
It was in the town of Wicklow
I owned a flour mill.
It's there I met this Waxford girl
With her dark and rolling eye,
I asked her to walk[1] out with me
My wishes to comply.
I went down to her mother's house
about eight o'clock that night,
I asked her to walk out with me
Our wedding day to appoint.
We walked and talked along the road
until we came to level ground,
When from the hedge I drew a stake
and knocked this fair one down.
She fell all onto her bended knees,
for mercy she did cry.
"O Willie, do not kill me here
for I'm not prepared to die!"
I heeded not one word she said
but I beat her all the more,
Until the ground around her
was covered o'er with gore.
Then I took her by the yellow locks
and dragged her o'er the ground,
And threw her into the water
that runs through Waxford town.
Lie there, lie there, you Waxford girl
who thought to be my bride?
Lie there, lie there, you Waxford girl,
To me you'll never be tied.
Returning home that evening
about twelve o'clock at night,
My mother being nervous,
she woke all in a fright.
Saying, "Son, dear son, what have you done
to bloody your hands and clothes?"
And the answer that I made her
was bleeding at the nose.
I called for a candle
to light myself to bed,
Likewise for a handkerchief
to tie my aching head.
I rolled and I tumbled,
no comfort could I find,
For the flames of hell was around me
and before my eyes did shine.
About three days after,
this fair one she was found,
A-floating in the river
that runs through Wicklow town.
And every-one who saw her said
she was a beauty bright[2],
Fit for any nobleman,
or any lord or knight.
I was taken on suspicion,
locked up in Wicklow jail.
There was none to intercede for me,
no one to go my bail.
Her sister swore my life away
without either fear or doubt,
She swore I was the same young man
who took her sister out.
Come. all you false true-lovers,
a warning take by me,
Don't never treat your own true love
to such severity.
For if you do, you sure will rue,
and be the same as I,
For hanged you'll be all on the tree,
and a murderer you will die.
1. He should be asking her to marry him-- in this spot.
2. bride