Folk
Songs in |
Songs
The Butcher Boy
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The Butcher
Boy |
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Time:
2:20 |
Lyrics
There is an inn in that same town, It's grief for me, I'll tell you why, She went upstairs to make her bed, Her father he at length came home He took a knife and cut her down, Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
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Note from E.L. Simons (1952): Both my grandfather and grandmother Simons are acquainted with this version, and I suspect that it was learned from my great-grandmother Raburn. She was from Indiana and this text [is] fairly close to those listed in Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana (1940), pp. 198-201. This song has often had other settings such as London city or New York. Brewster considers his versions garbled and he is seconded by Creighton, who says, in Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia (1933), pp. 33-34, that the song is compounded from several British broadsides including "The Cruel Father," "Sheffield Park," and "There is an Alehouse in Yonder Town." The song also has obvious affinities with the popular song "There is a Tavern in the Town." |