Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Drunkard's Lone Child, The

DESCRIPTION: "Out in the gloomy night sadly I roam, No one to love me, no friends and no home, Nobody cares for me, no one would cry Even if poor little Bessie should die." Bessie is alone: "Father's a drunkard and mother is dead." She hopes father will sober up
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink orphan children
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 309, "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 257-259, "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 309A)
BrownIII 25, "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (1 text plus a fragment and mention of 1 more)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 191-192, "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 477, "Bessie, the Drunkard's Lone Child" (source notes only)
DT, DRNKCHLD* DRNKCHL2*
Roud #723
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Drunkard's Lone Child" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Walter Coon, "Father's a Drunkard and Mother is Dead" (Conqueror 7271, 1929)
Arthur Fields, "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (Grey Gull 4200, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Beggar Boy" (lyrics)
cf. "The Drunkard's Child (I)" (plot)
cf. "Father, Dear Father, Come Home with Me Now" (theme) and references there
Notes: Cohen, in his edition of Randolph, has extensive notes on thie origin of this song; they boil down to, "Something is fishy here." - RBW
File: R309

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2006 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.