TY


There's a US Child 4 version that was used as the title for a play in Three Acts by Abraham B. Shiffrin which debuted in 1951.

It's found at mudcat with tune as:

The Lonely Willow Tree

There was a youth, a cruel youth
Who dwelt beside the sea,
Six pretty maidens he murdered there
By the lonely willow tree.

Here's a report from the Denton Record-Chronicle; January 7, 1951:

"The Willow Tree" is set in Manhattan's Central Park and concerns a psychopathic murderer who strangles young women walking alone in the park. Despite a dragnet of detectives, the killer strikes again and again. Title of the play is derived from an old folk song which begins: "There was a youth, a cruel youth, who dwelt beside the sea. Six little maidens he murdered there, neath a lonely willow tree."

So where did this version first appear? It's not in Bronson- he must have known about it. It's all over the internet.

Richie