Here's one from Maine. Not terribley different, though the tune is in a minor mode. The conspiracy with the coachman is an interesting twist Helen Hartness Flanders #293 BLACK VELVET BAND Brackett, Fred?Stacyville, ME?420510 s (D26B07) T 15:59 Collected by Marguerite Olney for Helen Hartness Flanders Collection, Middlebury College VT from Fred Brackett of Stacyville, ME c.1940 Transcribed and adapted by Julia Lane 2016 As I went a walking one evening 'T was just at the close of the day I spied a fair damsel approaching Came tripping along the highway Chorus:? Her cheeks they were red as the roses You would think she was queen of the land Her hair it hung over her shoulders? Tied up with a black velvet band To a house of ill fame she betrayed me Says she "The game ' tis well planned" Alas, she completely beguiled me ?Bad luck to the black velvet band 'Twas early the next monday morning ?As a coachman was just passing by? I could see there was something between them I could tell by the gleam of her eye A gold watch she slipped from his pocket She slyly slipped into my hand? This gave me the charge of the taker Bad luck to the black velvet band Before the high judge I was taken ?He says "Young man your case seems quite clear And if I am not much mistaken ?You'll be sentenced to twenty long years" Bid adieu to your friends and relations Likewise to the black velvet band? For you must now cross the wide ocean In a ship bound for Van Dieman's land
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