Collected and transcribed by Mary Celestia Parler
Sung by Mrs. Pearl Brewer Pocahontas, Arkansas August 28, 1958
Reel 297, Item 5
All Down By the Greenwood Side
(The Cruel Mother, Child #20)
This maid was passing by one day,
All alone and alone,
She saw those babes both out for play,
All down by the greenwood side.
0 babes, 0 babes, if you were mine,
All alone and alone,
I'd dress you up in silk so fine,
All down by the greenwood side.
0 mother, dear mother, we once were yours,
All alone and alone,
You neither gave us coarse nor fine,
You killed and buried us under a stone,
And prayed to the Lord it'd never be known,
All down by the greenwood side.
For seven long years you shall hear a bell,
All alone and alone,
And at the end of seven years you shall land in Hell, All down by the greenwood side.
