If I Had a Ribbon Bow
(Hughie Price and Lou Singer)
(as recorded by Odetta, 1957)

If I had a ribbon bow to bind my hair,
If I had a fancy sash, my love would think me fair;
And when he goes to Frankfort, a-loggin' on the rise,
He'd bring me back with his own hand a very pretty prize.

If I had a ribbon bow to bind my hair,
If I had a fancy sash, my love would think me fair.
If I was like city girls, and fair with smart,
Not a lad in all these parts would know my heart.
And then I'd live in Frankfort where all the lawin' goes,
I'd lark about the settlements and wear them foreign clothes.

[hum two lines]

If I had a ribbon bow to bind my hair,
If I had a fancy sash.

Transcribed by ear from the 1956 Tradition album, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1996 CD reissue)

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Need some help with a few parts of this one...