Young Jimmie- Rochester (SC) 1860s Smith B
[From Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, 1928 version B; Smith notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF KNIGHT
(Child, No. 4)
Along with "Lord. Randal," "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor," "Lord Lovel," "Bonny Barbara Allen," and "The Hangman's Tree," this is one of the most widely distributed ballads in America. For American variants and references, see the head-note to this ballad in Cox, p. 3. Campbell and Sharp give five variants and five tunes; and Cox, nine variants and one tune.
The head-note in Kittredge speaks thus of its prevalence in in Europe "Of all the ballads, this has perhaps obtained the widest circulation. It is nearly as well known to the southern as to the northern nations of Europe. It has an extraordinary currency in Poland. The Germans, High and Low, and the Scandinavians, preserve it, in a full and evidently ancient form, even in the tradition of this generation." In some versions (as Child, A and B, the supernatural character of the Elf Knight is retained, in others it is lost completely, and he has become merely "False sir John'; or, as in our variant B, "Young Jimmie."
B. "Young Jimmie." Communicated by Mrs. Fannie Brennecke, of Walhalla, S.C., Nov. 17, 1924. Mrs. Brennecke writes: "In a cabin on my father's plantation, back in the Sixties, lived an old, old woman, known to all as "Granny Rochester." It was one of my greatest pleasures to visit at her cabin, and have her sing to me this ludicrous song, entitled "Young Jimmie" which to my childish fancy was most wonderful - the quintessence of tragedy and pathos!
"If you have heard the old English ballad, "Lord Lovel" then you have heard the tune by which Granny Rochester of the treacherous Jimmie, crowding in or slurring the notes as it suited her fancy to fit the meter of the verses. when she would sing the line, "Ye'd take me to the old Scotland," she would pronounce the word 'Scot-land,' emphasizing the two syllables equally."
1. Young Jimmie, he was a brisk young lad,
He came across the sea.
He came across of a Saturday night,
And then he came a-courting of me, me, me,
And then he came a-courting of me."
2. He courted me a Saturday, he courted me a Sunday,
He courted me the live long day;
I had no heart for to flee from him,
No tongue for to tell him nay, nay, nay,
No tongue for to tell him nay.
3. He mounted on his milk-white steed,
I rode my father's grey,
And we rode away from the old Scotland
Two hours before it came day, day, day,
Two hours before it came day.
4. "Light off, light off, pretty polly, my bride,
Light off by the side of me;
The six King's daughters I have drowned here,
And the seventh thou shalt be, be, be,
And the seventh thou shalt be!
5. "Take off that fine white silk satin robe
And hang it on yon bush;
For it is far too fine and cost-i-lee
For to rotten in the sea, sea, sea,
For to rotten in the sea."
6. I turned my face toward the main,
My back toward the lea--
I threw my arms around his neck
And cast him into the sea, sea, sea,
And cast him into the sea!
7. "Take me out, take me out, pretty Polly, my bride,
Take me out by the side of thee;
The six King's daughters I have drowned here
And the seventh's drowned me, me, me,
And the seventh's drowned me!"
8. "Lie there, lie there, young Jimmie,
'T wasn't what ye promised me;
Ye'd take me away to the old Scotland,
And there ye'd marry me, me, me,
And there ye'd marry me!"
9. I mounted on the milk-white steed,
I led the dapple grey;
And I rode away to my father's house
Two hours before it came day, day, day,
Two hours before it came day.
10. "Hush up, hush up, pretty Pollye, my bird,
Don't ye tell no tales on me;
I 'll build ye a cage of the new Brittain gold,
With the doors of ivoree, ree, ree,
With the doors of ivoree!"