Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia

Subject: Little Grave in Georgia
From: fox4zero
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 02:12 PM

I have this recording as reissued by County or? It is one of 5-6 songs written about the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913 in Marietta GA. An innocent man was lynched for the crime, a victim of anti-semitism. Harry Golden wrote a thorough history of the crime called "A Little Girl is Dead" I have trouble making out the words from the recording. The melody is great The chorus goes something like this:

Now she lies in the town of Marietta And the birds are singing in the trees And her grave is all covered with ivy And my loved one is waiting for me.

I really enjoy the MC Cafe

Subject: Mary Phagan: Little Grave in Georgia
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 03:56 PM

Darn. We had quite a thread on that song a while back, and I can't find it. Click here for information on the movie about the incident. Click here for an extensive study of the murder. The Digital Tradition has one song on this incident, but spells it MARY FAGAN.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia
From: fox4zero
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 05:56 PM

Joe Offer--Thanks for the movie info. AMERICAN MURDER BALLADS by Olive Woolley Burt lists 3 or more versions of the Mary Phagan murder, but not Little Grave In Georgia. Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia
From: Dale Rose
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 10:38 PM

This is the only thread I could find, but you are right Joe, I seem to remember a much longer thread. It must have been one of those side tangents buried inside a thread of another name. I have the recording in question, and I can understand why Parish cannot decipher all the words. I doubt that I could do much better. I will look for it though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia
From: Dale Rose
Date: 06 Oct 99 - 10:44 PM

Oh, I should have mentioned that the tune is similar to Over The Mountain as done by Uncle Dave Macon and others. I just checked the DT, and it is there as WHERE MY EILEEN IS WAITING from Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland, Ossian Publications. That makes for an interesting research question. I never thought of it as being Irish.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Oct 99 - 02:01 AM

Parish, there are two Mary Phagan songs on Vol 3 of Document's complete recordings of Fiddlin' John Carson. The first is sung by Rosa Lee Carson (John's daughter, 15 at the time, and who had not yet adopted the persona of Moonshine Kate); it is titled 'Little Mary Phagan'. The other is sung by Fiddlin' John and is titled 'The grave of Little Mary Phagan'. Both sound like they were recorded under water and neither has what could be described as a 'good', let alone a 'great' melody. Thus, neither is the version you are looking for. However, you may be interested in the following excerpt from Wayne W. Daniel's 'Pickin' on Peachtree' (if my scanning, cutting and pasting works). The newspaper quote is from the 'Atlanta Constitution' of 18 August 1915:

'Fiddlin'john Carson appears to have taken an interest in current events. Perhaps the biggest Atlanta news story of 1915 occurred on August 16, when vigilantes took Leo Frank, convicted of the 1913 murder of pencil factory employee Mary Phagan, from the state prison at Milledgeville and lynched him at Marietta. Among those found at the scene of this macabre event was Fiddlin' John Carson. According to a contemporary newspaper account: 'The hundreds of morbidly curious [following the removal of the corpse] congregated around "Fiddlin' John" Carson, who has turned up with his fiddle at every Frank development within a radius of thirty miles of Marietta since the day Mary Phagan's body was discovered, as he stood in front of the courthouse and fiddled a symphonic jubilee .... "Fiddlin' John" Carson swayed the crowds .... in his repertoire of folk songs, he has one that is adapted to a quaint, rural hymn, and has for its words a narrative of the murder of Mary Phagan "by Leo M. Frank, the president of the pencil factory." "Fiddlin'john" would fiddle and sing his song in a typical nasal twang, and he could he heard to the center of the square, around which were grouped hundreds of automobiles, buggies and mountain transports of the "schooner" variety, which were wagons covered with canvas over arched framework. The crowd would cheer and applaud him lustily, and, in- spirited by this show of appreciation, he would repeat his song, over and over again. Presently, when his hearers began to tire of the same tune, he deserted it, and replaced it with such wellknown selections as 'Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane', 'Annie Laurie', 'That Good Old-Time Religion' and 'Mr Shirley, the Furniture Man'. Fiddlin' John, the troubadour of the mountains, basked in "reflected glory", and it was not until the courthouse crowds began to tire of his songs and fiddle that he departed, reluctantly'.

Daniel also gives a couple of references for further information on the ballad:

Gene Wiggins: 'The Socio-political Works of Fiddlin' John and Moonshine Kate' Southern Folklore Quarterly 41 (1977) pp 97-118
Sandra Keyes: 'Little Mary Phagan - A Native American Ballad in Context' Journal of County Music 3 (1972) pp 1-16
D.K. Wilgus and Nathan Hurvitz 'Little Mary Phagan - Further Notes on a Native American Ballad in Context' Journal of Country Music 4 (1973) pp 17-30