Wrecked & Rambling Boy- Audrey Hellums (MS) 1926 Hudson C
[Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr. - Jun., 1926), page 122, 1926. Hudson endorses Cox's 1925 notes.
This is a variant of Cruel Father broadside, my B, which Renwick calls "Oh Willie." Stanza 3 is derived from Nelly's Constancy and is similarly found on other related versions including the Scotch, "I Love You Jamie"
Cf. Sharp C, Brisk Young Lover [Cruel Father] which is a variant.
R. Matteson 2017]
C. "The Wrecked and Rambling Boy." Communicated by Mr. T. A. Bickerstaff, a student in the University of Mississippi; from his sister Mrs. Audrey Hellums, Tishomingo, Mississippi, who sings it. A variant of "The Butcher Boy."
I. I am a wrecked and rambling boy,
My dwellings are both near and far[1];
A wrecked and rambling boy I'll be,
To love a girl that don't love me.
2. "I love thee, Willie, I love thee well,
I love thee better than tongue can tell;
But all this world can plainly see
I love a boy that don't love me.
3. When Julia's father came this to know]2],
That Julia and Willie were loving so,
He ripped and tore among them all
And swore he'd use his cannon ball.
4. When Julia's father came home at night,
He called for Julia, his heart's delight;
He ran upstairs, the door he broke,
And found her hanging by her own bed rope.
5. He took his knife and cut her down,
And on her breast this note was found:
"Go dig my grave, oh, deep and wide,
And bury dear Willie by my right side."
6. Now Julia's dead and in the ground,
And all her friends stand mourning round,
And o'er her grave flies a little dove,
To show to this world she died for love.
1. originally "Isle of Cloy" or "Aclecloy" (Auchnacloy, Ireland)
2. The father sends Willie to sea where he dies of a cannonball.