Well, A Maid Being Young

Well, A Maid Being Young

Folk songs, English--North Carolina

This is a hand-transcribed ballad. A note on the reverse dated 1960 says that Mae Phillips learned this song in the 1910s or 1920s from her cousin Bethonia Clark.

Bobby McMillon

Bobby McMillon Collection, Southern Appalachian Archives, Mars Hill University

Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Appalachian Studies, Mars Hill University

1968

1910-1930

Mae Phillips

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North Carolina

Well, A Maid a Being Young

Well, a maid a being young, she thought it no harm
Well, a maid a being young, she thought it no harm
Well, a maid a being young, she thought it no harm
so she jumped in the bed and rolled in my arms.

And it’s what I done there I cannot tell here
And it’s what I done there I cannot tell here
It’s what I done there I cannot tell here
but I wish that night had a been a long year.

Well, the six months passed and the time rolled by
Well, the six months passed and the time rolled by
Well, the six months passed and the time rolled by
her slippers wouldn't button, her aprons wouldn't tie.

Well, if it’s a girl child, hire it a nurse
silver and gold put money in its purse
Take it on your lap and comb its little head
and don't forget the night when I got your maidenhead.

Well, if it’s a boy child name it after me
stick a gun in its pocket, dress it in blue
and tell it to see the girls
like its pappy used to do.

verso:

1968

"Maw Maw" Phillips learned this song in the 10s or 20s from her cousin Bethonia Clark (whom she said the "song fit perfectly"). Bethonia was 14 at the time and her niece's husband was the local school teacher. He had a big family but got Bethonia to meet him in a room somewhere (maybe the school house) and they would spend the night together often. It was on one of these rendezvous that he taught her this song and she in turn sang it to Maw Maw who never forgot it and would sing it occasionally for the girls until I got wind of it and begged her to teach me it. Bethonia and her nephew-in-law ran off together but he didn't live long. As I recollect Maw Maw said she was pregnant but whether the infant lived or died I can't remember. After returning home Bethonia's parents later packed up and moved off with her and, I suspect, the child and went to Middle Tennessee.

Handwritten text in a brown spiral-bound notebook.