Good point, Stringsinger. "Lady Gay" is especially interesting since it includes the types of supernatural material most likely to remain in American songs: ghosts, religion, and, possibly, witchcraft. I say "possibly, witchcraft" because the "grammarie/grammaree/gramarye" that the children were sent to learn was, supposedly, witchcraft: http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-definitions/gramarye


The West Virginia version collected by Patrick Gainer has lost the witchcraft (the children are simply learning "grammar"), but retains the other 2 elements. See my post of 05 Feb 08 at 9:26 p.m., where it is called "The Three Little Babes" (Child 79).

For some who might not be familiar with the song, here are a couple of links: @displaysong.cfm?SongID=3463   and http://appalshop.org/archive/kazee/.

Kent