Hi,

This is the 2nd composite:

The Wexford Reduction- This is the standard text found in North America with a two stanza ending-- a number of traditional versions have these stanzas so there's no need for adding stanzas to make a composite- I've changed a line or two. The standard version's first stanza end: " 'Twas in the town of Waxford/I owned a flour mill" and it has the handkerchief stanza. There is an archaic version that is represented by two texts: "The Wexford Tragedy" from a chapbook, dated 1818, and also the traditional "The Worcester Tragedy" collected by Kenneth Peacock in 1959 from Mrs Charlotte Decker of Parson's Pond, Newfoundland. The first two stanzas of the standard text are sometimes corrupted with the opening of "Girl I Left Behind Me" a variation not included here. I've made the composite from these outstanding texts: "Waxford Girl," as sung by John Galusha of Minerva, New York, 1941 and "Waxford Girl" sung by Lily Delorme of Hardscrabble, Cadyville (NY) on June 18, 1942.

1. 'Twas in the town of Wicklow,
Where I did live and dwell;
'Twas in the town of Wexford
I owned a flour mill.

2. I fell in love with a Wexford girl
With a dark and rolling eye;
I asked her for to be my wife,
My wishes to comply.

3. I went down to her mother's house
About eight o'clock that night,
I asked her to walk out with me
Our wedding day to appoint[1].

4. We walked along and talked along
Till we came to level ground,
When from the hedge I drew a stake
And knocked this fair one down.

5. She fell all onto her bended knees,
for mercy she did cry.
"O Willie, do not kill me here
for I'm not prepared to die!"

6. I heeded not one word she said
but I beat her all the more,
Until the ground around her
was covered o'er with gore.

7. Then I took her by the yellow locks
and dragged her o'er the ground,
And threw her into the water
that runs through Waxford town.

8. Lie there, lie there, you Waxford girl
who thought to be my bride?
Lie there, lie there, you Waxford girl,
To me you'll never be tied.

9. Returning home that evening
About twelve o'clock at night,
My mother being nervous,
She woke all in a fright.

10. Saying, "Son, dear son, what have you done
To bloody your hands and clothes?"
And the answer that I made her
Was bleeding at the nose.

11. I called for a candle
to light myself to bed,
Likewise for a handkerchief
to tie my aching head.

12. I rolled and I tumbled,
No comfort could I find,
For the flames of hell was around me
And before my eyes did shine.

13. About three days after,
this fair one she was found,
A-floating in the river
that runs through Wicklow town.

14. And everyone who saw her said
she was a beauty bride,
Fit for any nobleman,
or any lord or knight.

15. I was taken on suspicion,
locked up in Wicklow jail.
There was none to intercede for me,
no one to go my bail.

16. Her sister swore my life away
without either fear or doubt,
She swore I was the same young man
who took her sister out.

17. Come. all you false true-lovers,
a warning take by me,
Don't never treat your own true love
to such severity.

18. For if you do, you sure will rue,
and be the same as I,
For hanged you'll be all on the tree,
and a murderer you will die.

1. sung "p'int" to rhyme with night

Richie