LITTLE BESSIE

Hold me closer, mother, closer
Put your arms around me tight
For I'm cold and tired, dear mother
And I feel so strange tonight

Something hurts me here, dear mother
Like a stone upon my breast
And I wonder, mother, wonder
Why it is I cannot rest

All the days while you were working
As I lay upon the bed
I was trying to be patient
And to think of what you said

Just before the lamps were lighted
Just before the children came
While the room was very quiet
I head someone call my name

'Come up here, my little Bessie
'Come up here and live with me
'Where little children never suffer
'Through the long eternity'

In the silent hour of midnight
In the silence calm and deep
Lying on her mother's bosom
Little Bessie fell asleep

Now up yonder at the portals
That are shining very fair
Little Bessie now is tended
By the Saviour's loving care

Source: Blue Sky Boys. Recorded on 25 January 1938. Reissued on Various Artists 'Early Blue Grass' RCA Victor Vintage Series LPV-569.

Note: A good example of the dichotomy of the 19th century mind. One of the hundreds of sentimental songs about children – the very children who were ruthlessly exploited in the mines and the factories. This is a shortened version of the text in the 'Old Baptist Songbook'. The song was very popular throughout the southern mountains. A 9-minute version can be found on the superb recording of Roscoe Holcomb from Kentucky issued by Smithsonian/Folkways: 'The High Lonesome Sound'. The emotional impact that the song could have is exemplified by Holcomb's recording , made at his home in 1962 during the filming of the 'High Lonesome Sound'. The song was sung with incredible intensity. We are told that Roscoe became so involved in the song that his mood changed and he refused to record for several days afterward. I note that a lady called Anne was looking for this in a thread in March this year, but she probably wanted the longer version.