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

Waterbound (I)

DESCRIPTION: Singer can't go home because of flooding. His girl's father is mad, but the singer doesn't care "as long as I get his daughter": "If he don't give her up, we're gonna run away." He and his friends state that they're going home "before the water rises."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (unissued recording, Grayson County Railsplitters)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement flood father
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Darling-NAS, pp. 252-253, "Waterbound" (1 text)
DT, WATRBOND
RECORDINGS:
Grayson County Railsplitters, "Way Down in North Carolina" (unissued, 1929; on TimesAint05)
Art Thieme, "Waterbound" (on Thieme06)
Wade Ward & Bogtrotters, "Waterbound" (on Holcomb-Ward1)
NOTES: Yes, there's a narrative buried in there -- two of them, really. - PJS
I suspect it may have been stronger, once upon a time, but gotten rather submerged after years of the tune being used primarily as a fiddle/banjo instrumental. As Paul notes, there are two plots -- one about the rising flood and one about courting. - RBW
The Grayson Co. Railsplitters' recording is essentially identical to the canonical version sung in the folk revival, mostly learned from the Wade Ward/Bogtrotters recording. It should be noted that Fields Ward, Wade's brother, was a member of the Railsplitters, along with Sampson Ward, Eck Dunford and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman -- an old-time music all-star show if ever there was one. - PJS
File: DTwatrbo

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Bibliography
Go to the Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2012 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.