♫"*In Tarrytown* (John Allison)

This is a Hudson Valley version of the old English/Irish/Scots ballad "The Butcher Boy". From the singing of John Allison, this song dates back to the U.S. colonial era.

In Tarrytown, there did dwell
A lovely youth I knew him well
He courted me my life away
And now with me he will no longer stay

Refrain:
Oh, wide and deep, my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growing over me

When I wore, my apron low
He courted me, through ice and snow
Now that I wear, my apron high
He walks right down the street and passes by

Oh, wide and deep, my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growing over me

There is an inn, in Tarrrytown
There my love goes and sits him down
He takes another, girl on his knee
And she has gold and riches more than me

Oh, wide and deep, my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growing over me
Oh, wide and deep, my grave will be
With the wild goose grasses growing over me."♫



and Jean Redpath sang: (from memory)
"When my apron did hang low,
He'd follow after thru wind & snow,
But now that my apron's to my chin,
He passes my gate...but he won't come in."

"I wish, I wish, though I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again.
But a maid again I can never be
Till apples grow on an orange tree"

I wish, I wish that my babe were born
And sitting on my mother's knee
And I, poor girl, were dead & gone;
Green grass growing over me"