Lyr Req: The Wexford Girl

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WEXFORD GIRL (from Benny Barnes)
From: Gene Graham
Date: 08 Mar 97 - 03:41 AM

Can someone please fill in the missing words in the two verses of the listed song?

This was probably the basis for THE KNOXVILLE GIRL, by the Louvin Brothers.

THE WEXFORD GIRL
(Recorded by Benny Barnes - Traditional Arrangement)

It was in the town of Waterford
Where I was bred and born
It was in the city of Baltimore
That I owned a (*.....) farm
I courted many a Wexford girl
With dark and roving eyes
I asked her for to marry me
And yes, was her reply;

I went up to here father's house
About 8 o'clock one night
I asked her for to take a walk
Our wedding day to appoint
We walked along (*.......)
Til I came to a level ground
I broke a stake out of the fence
And beat this fair maid down;

Down on her bended knees she fell
And, "mercy she did cry"
Oh, Willie dear, don't murder me here
I'm not prepared to die
He heeded not the words she said
But he beat her all the more
Til all the ground for yards around
Was in a bloody gore.

I went up to my mother's house
About 12 o'clock that night
My mother, she'd been sittin' up a-waitin'
She took an awful fright
Oh son, dear son, what have you done
What bled your hands and clothes
The answer that I made to my mother
"I was bleeding at the nose;"

I asked her for a candle
To light my way to bed
Likewise, for a handkerchief, to wrap
Around my aching head
I tied it and I twisted it
But no comfort could I find
The flames of hell shown around me
My true love not far behind;

It was in about three weeks before
This fair maid was found
Floatin' down the river
That leads to Wexford town
And all that saw her said
She was fair, a handsome bride
That she was fit for any king
Or any Squire's bride;

I was taken on suspicion
And locked in the Wexford jail
For there was none to pity me
Or none to go my bail
Come ye, all you loyal true lovers
A warning take by me
And never treat your own true love
To any cruelty;

For if you do, you'll rue like me
Until the day you die
You'll hang like me, a murderer
All on the gallows high.

* (Unclear)

Subject: RE: THE WEXFORD GIRL
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 21 Mar 97 - 04:48 AM

Friedman's VIking/Penguin Book of Folk Ballads gives

"flowerered farm" odly enough a and

"walked along quite easily"

He relates it to a song called "The Berkshire Tragedy" on a broadside of about 1700

Regards.

Subject: RE: THE WEXFORD GIRL
From:
Date: 21 Mar 97 - 04:17 PM

Thanks Martin. This has been bugging me for quite some time. I just could not make out the *FLOWERED and QUITE EASILY....The recording is from the Country Hall of Fame Boxset - 200 Years of American Heritage in Song (100 - Country/Folk/Bluegrass songs) celebrating 200 years of music from 1776 to 1976....has a very informative booklet, but no lyrics.

Please email me some details about the book you mentioned. Sounds very interesting.

Subject: RE: THE WEXFORD GIRL
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 25 Mar 97 - 10:35 AM

"The Viking Book of Ballads of the English Speaking WOrld" was published in the States in the mid-50's. Reprinted as the "Penguin ...." in Britain in the mid-seventies. Usually contains two or three versions of a ballad from both sides of the atlantic, with notes. Probably not the most reliable source of information but certainly useful. Has tunes, which helps.

Regards

Marrtitn

Subject: RE: THE WEXFORD GIRL
From:
Date: 08 Jun 97 - 01:11 AM

RENEW/Gene

Subject: RE: THE WEXFORD GIRL
From: GUEST,Ronnie Guitar
Date: 02 Jan 08 - 10:58 PM

After three weeks floating in the river I don't think she would have been looking so fair.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Wexford Girl
From: GUEST,Darrelle
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 04:00 PM

My mother, a sharecropper's daughter born in Texas in 1908, sang this song to me. This is the first time I've seen lyrics in print. Her version was a combination of "Knoxville" and "Wexford" with interesting variations. I'm interested in seeing the "Oxford" lyrics.