This is the only song related to the feud that I was able to locate. I have no idea what the tune might be. Absent evidence, Improvise!


THE LOVE OF ROSANNA McCOY

Come and listen to my story,
Of fair Rosanna McCoy.
She loved Johnse Hatfield,
Old Devil Anse's boy.

But the McCoys and Hatfields,
Had long engaged in strife.
And never the son of a Hatfield,
Should take a McCoy to wife.

But when they met each other,
On Blackberry Creek, they say.
She was riding behind her brother,
When Johnse rode along that way.

"Who is that handsome fellow?"
She asked young Tolbert McCoy.
Said he, "Turn your head sister,"
"That's Devil Anse's boy."

But somehow they met each other,
And it grieved the Hatfields sore.
While, Randall, the young girl's father
Turned his daughter from his door.

It was down at old Aunt Betty's,
They were courting one night they say
When down came Rosanna's brothers,
And took young Johnse away.

And Rosanna's heart was heavy,
For she hoped to be his wife,
And well she knew her brothers,
Would take his precious life.

Straight to the Hatfield's stronghold,
She rode, so fearless and brave,
To tell them that Johnse was in danger
And beg them his life to save.

And the Hatfields rode in a body,
And saved young Johnse's life.
But "Never," they said, "a Hatfield,
Should take a McCoy to wife."

But the feud is long forgotten,
And time has healed the sting,
As little Bud and Melissy,
This song of their kinsmen sing.

No longer is it forbidden,
That a fair-haired young McCoy,
Shall love her fair-haired neighbor,
Or marry a Hatfield boy.

And the people still remember,
Though she never became his bride,
The love of those two young people,
And Rosanna's midnight ride.
The poem/lyrics are from an anonymous author that I found in the 1960s.

Sample of recording on the American Folk Song Festival album on Folkways. Singer: Dave Varney.
-Joe Offer-