I haven't absorbed all the above information but if it helps, here's what I recorded from Rita Emerson, aged 90, from WVa in 1998:


Drowsy Sleepers

Arouse, arouse, you drowsy sleepers
Arouse, arouse, 'tis almost day.
Throw open your doors and armour your windows
And hear what your true lover has to say.

'Go away, dear Willie, you'll wake up my mother.
Tales of love she will not hear.
Go away, dear Willie and court another
Or whisper softly in my ear.'

'I will not go 'way and court any other
For by my love I mean no harm
I would only take you away from your mother
To rescue in your true lover's arms.'

'Go away, dear Willie, you'll wake up my father.
And he is taking of his rest
And in his broad arms he carries a weapon
To slay the one that I love best.

I wish I were in some lonely valley
Where I could neither see nor hear
My food it would be of grief and of sorrow
My drink would be of the briny tears.

For down in yon meadow there is a sharp arrow
I wish it were through my breast,
It'd drive away all grief and all sorrow
And take my troubles home to rest.

Tradsinger