Lyr. Add: KITTY KLINE
(Federal Music Project, WPA, ca. 1937)

Do you ever think of me, Kitty Kline?
Do you ever think of me, darling one?
Do you ever think of me
When I'm sailing on the sea,
Do you ever think of me, darling one?

Sometimes I wish I were dead
And buried on the banks of the sea
Where all of my friends could gather around
And see the last of me.

Oh how I love Kitty Kline, Kitty Kline,
Oh how I love that girl,
I love her so well no human tongue can tell,
Oh how I love that girl.

If I were a bird, a little bird,
I would never build on the ground.
I would build my nest in some high oak tree
Where the bad boys could not tear me down.

If I were a bee, a little bee,
I would never steal the honey from a rose;
I would steal one kiss from my true love's lips
And back to the hive I would go.

Oh how I love Kitty Kline, Kitty Kline,
Oh how I love that girl,
I love her so well no human tongue can tell,
Oh how I love that girl.

Duncan Emrich, 1974, "American Folk Poetry, An Anthology," pp. 109-110.
Singer not named; coll. in Boyd Co., KY, ca. 1937. Jean Thomas, Supervisor for Boyd County, Ms., with music, in the Archive of Folk Song, Library of Congress.
The music is not printed in the Emrich volume.

The next song in Emrich is "Free Little Bird," a related song, collected in the Kentucky Highlands by Harvey H. Fuson. It is followed by "In the Pines," ("where the sun never shines"), a line that is found in "Dark Hollow."