The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #71024   Message #1215044
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
27-Jun-04 - 01:59 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Courting Too Slow
Subject: Lyr Add: AT THE FOOT OF YONDERS MOUNTAIN
Ollie Gilbert sang a version (Max Hunter Folk Song Collection) that doesn't seem to be mentioned in Mudcat, possibly because of the title which is almost the same as one of the Pretty Saro group (not the same song as "At the Foot of Yonder Mountain," in the DT).

Lyr. Add: AT THE FOOT OF YONDERS MOUNTAIN

At the foot of yonders mountain
Where there runs a clear stream
I once courted a pretty girl
An' Polly was 'er name

When I first saw Polly
I could not obtain
I then taken a wild fly
An' sailed o'er the main.

Where the small birds were singing
An' makin' sad mourn
I then thought of Polly
As I sailed all alone.

I wrote her a letter
To keep 'er on my mind
She wrote me an answer
By bein' so kind.

She wrote, she'd lawfuly married
When this letter did go
Saying, now I've lost pretty Polly
By courtin' too slow.

This young man was taken
On his death bed to die
He sent for this young girl
That once could'a been his bride.

N' as she came near 'im
An' approached his bedside
Saying, here is the girl
That once could'a been my bride.

But now she's married an' left me
And I'll die for her sake
He threw his arms round her
She felt his heart break.

O Willie, you're dead
An' I hope you'll find rest
Polly, she fainted
And died on his breast.

Ollie Gilbert, Arkansas, sung 1969. With Real Audio, in Max Hunter Folk Song Collection. Yonders Mountain