Hi,

I was fortunate to play with Doc Watson in the 1990s and at Merle Fest. I also got to know Jean Ritchie at that time through a series of emails and phone calls.

Jean taught Doc this version of "Seventeen" which she attributes to her father. It's titled, "Where are you Going?" and appears on a live Folkways recording by Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie titled, "Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)." The version is virtually the same as the one published by Lomax in Folk Songs of North America, 1960 which he attributed to Peggy Seeger. In 1968 Peggy Seeger recorded a different version (although I've only heard part of it) on Amorous Muse. It seems that Lomax may have the informant wrong or Peggy Seeger learned Ritchie's version which seems unlikely. In January 2003 Jean Ritchie posted the opening two stanzas and chorus here and said: "Here's the starting verses of Dad's version." Assuming her father, Balis W. Ritchie of Viper, (1869-1958) knew the song and Jean learned it-- there's no telling when that may have happened. Jean was born in 1922 so it could have been when she was a child c.1930.

The mystery remains-- why is the version attributed to Peggy Seeger by Lomax in 1960? Why are the same stanzas part of "Charlie" an arrangement by Shirley Collins? Why do the same stanzas with a varied last stanza show up as suggested text for the Monroe family version (an instrumental)? Since Doc sings "wall" flower instead of "my" flower in the third stanza (small error), why do the other versions all have "my" flower?

Richie

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Where are You Going? sung by Doc Watson and Jean Ritchie in 1963.

[guitar]

1. (Doc) "Where are you goin' my pretty little miss,
Where are you going' my daisy?"
(Jean) "O, if I don't get me a young man soon
I think I'm a-goin' crazy."

Chorus: Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-diddle diddle dum,
    Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-doody;
    Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-diddle-diddle dum,
    Hi rinktum-a-dinktum-a-doody.

2. (Doc) "How old are you my pretty little miss,
How old are you my honey?"
(Jean) "Well, if I don't die of a broken heart
I'll be sixteen next Sunday!"

3. (Doc) "Oh can you court my pretty little miss,
Oh can you court my flower?"
(Jean) I'll court more in a minute and a half
than you can in an hour.

4. (Doc) "Will you marry me, my pretty little miss?
Will you marry me, good looking?"
(Jean) I'll marry you but I won't do
Your washing or your cooking."