Young Lady From London- Blackard (VA) 1918 Sharp H
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, Vol 2 by Cecil J. Sharp (1859-1924) and Maud Karpeles; 1932 edition. Clearly Version H is from Joe "Dad" Blackard (not Blackett). From Virginia's Blues, Country & Gospel Records, 1902-1943 by Kip Lornell:
This group, also billed as "Dad Blackard's Moonshiners" by the Victor Company, hailed from Meadows of Dan in Patrick County. Its leader was Joe " Dad" Blackard, who was born in Stuart, Virginia, in 1859. The English folksong collector Cecil Sharpe visited Meadows of Dan in August 1918 and collected at least five songs from Joe Blackard. In addition to being a banjo player and ballad singer he also taught shape note singing schools.
From Sharp's diary, Meadows of Dan, 28th August 1918 (ref. Yates):
"[Mrs Shelor] sings me 2 or 3 songs and then tells us of Joe Blackett the postman who is home for the day. We call there to find him out but arrange with his daughter to call at 4 p.m. Then on the way home see the Preacher & make an app[ointment] with him for tomorrow "evening". After lunch & a short rest go to the Blackett's and stay there a couple of hours. He sang me 7 or 8 fairly good songs and is a 'banjer-man' while I played the piano — quite a nice one — and Maud & I sang."
The Shelor and Blackard Families (Excerpt from Filed Recorders' Collective):
Clarice (born March, 1900) remembers stories about her father Joseph's childhood: “You know Grandpa (Willoughby Blackard) died in the Civil War with the measles and left Grandma with five children to raise. She had a real hard time. Sometimes she couldn't buy wax to make candles for the children to study by. He (Joe Blackard) was so anxious to learn that he'd go cut pine and burn it and study his lessons by the light the pines would give out of the fireplace.
Joseph continued to a higher education than most by walking seven miles to Vesta every summer to learn from a visiting professor. Finally, Joseph be came a teacher for the mountain children by carrying around a petition to form a "subscription" school Clarice told me, "the people that weren't able to pay, he took 'em in free an' taught 'em. But there's plenty people that was able to put in something that did." In 1904 Joe began to carry the mail and stopped teaching. He carried the mail for twenty-one years, until 1924.
Joseph began singing and playing the banjo when he was so young that he had to put the rim on a chair and just hold the neck. Later, he bought the first "store" banjo ever to come to the area. Finally, he ordered a Sears and Roebuck metal-clad "Supertone." When, in 1918, Cecil Sharp came collecting songs for his book English Folksongs From the Southern Mountains, he found Joe Blackard a rich source. He collected songs like "Young Beichan", "The Holy Twig", "Fine Sally", and "Bow and Balance to Me" from Joe.
My title, Sharp used the generic title, The Brown Girl for all versions, no local titles supplied. Sharp called the ballad "Fine Sally" in his field notes.
This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is commonly known in the US, and Canada as "The Brown Girl."
US and Canada versions are based on the hundreds of late 18th century English broadsides sometimes titled "The Sailor from Dover" or "Sally and her Truelove Billy."
Child's B version of 295, "The Brown, Brown Girl" collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, introduced stanzas from the "Sally and her Truelove Billy" songs. In his article "Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation" Steve Gardham has shown that Baring-Gould's ballad is a re-creation of two ballads and not traditional.
To put it simply, the versions are not related to "The Brown Girl" but are part of the "The Sailor from Dover" and "Sally and her Truelove Billy" song group. In the US and Canada some common titles are "Pretty Sally," "Sally," and "A Rich Irish Lady." They have been put here following Bronson and others who have attached them to Child 295, not because they belong here.
R. Matteson 2014]
H. [Young Lady from London] Sung by Mr. JOE BLACKARD at Meadows of Dan, Va., Aug. 28, 1918; Pentatonic. Mode 3 (Tonic C).
1. There was a young lady from London she came,
And Sally and Sally, and Sally was her name.
Her portion was more than the king he possessed,
Her beau-ty was more than the worth it could fetch.
2 Every night in the city (?) for more than one year
I courted this damsel and straightway did steer.
But Sally being scornful, her portion being high?
All on this young knight she'd scarce cast an eye.
3 O Sally, O Sally, O Sally, said he,
I'm sorry that your love and mine can't agree,
For I'm sure that you will my ruin prove,
Unless your great hatred all turns into love.
4 I've no hatred for you, nor no other man,
But as for to fancy you, I never can.
So drop your attire and end your discourse,
For I never will marry you unless I am forced.
5 Before two years had come, or two years had passed,
He heard of this young lady's misfortune at last,
She sent for this young man she had slighted and scorned,
She was pierced through the heart and she knew not where from.
6 Then to her he came to the side of her bed:
A pain in your side, or a pain in your head?
O no, kind sir, the rights you've not guessed,
The pain that I feel pierces me through the breast.
7 Am I then the doctor you sent for me here?
Yes, you are the doctor, she cried, my dear.
You are the man that first caused my woe,
Then without your assistance I'm ruined, I know.
8 O Sally, O Sally, O Sally, said he,
Don't you remember how you slighted me?
The words you have spoken you slighted with scorn,
And now I'll reward you for things past and gone.
9 For things past and gone, I hope you'll forgive.
God grant me that blessing each day that I live.
No, I never will forgive you while I have breath.
I'll dance on your grave when you're laid in the earth.
10 Then off of her fingers pulled diamond rings three,
Keep these for my sake when you're dancing on me.
I'll freely forgive you although you won't me,
Ten thousand times over my folly I see.
11 Then fare you well, friends, and fare you well, foes,
Likewise to my sweetheart wherever he goes.
For ever I must lie in this cold bed of clay.
My red rosy lips must mold [2] away.
1. Sharp also had "presses."
2. had "mould"- probably for molderin' which may have been sung here as "just molderin' away." Davis B from Virginia has, "her red rosy cheeks lies moldering away." See also:
Death and the Lady (100EFS 52)
Now Sally is dead, lies cold in the clay,
Her rosy-red cheeks are all moldering away