The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162238 Message #3859651
Posted By: Joe Offer
08-Jun-17 - 02:02 PM
Thread Name: DTStudy: Step It Out Nancy
Subject: ADD Version: Step It Out Nancy
The version in Sing Out! is quite different:
STEP IT OUT NANCY (Robin Williams and Jerome Clark)
Step it out Nancy, purty darlin' Step it out Nancy, if you can Step it out Nancy, purty darlin' Show your legs to the wealthy man
At Cheyenne in Wyoming There's a maiden fine and fair Oh, her eyes they shone like diamonds She had long and golden hair When the cattleman came a-riding He came to her father's door Mounted on a silk white pony He came at the stroke of four (Chorus)
I've come to court your daughter, Nancy Of the golden hair I have wealth and I have money I have goods beyond compare I will buy her silks and satins And a gold ring for her hand I will buy my love a mansion She'll have servants to command (Chorus)
Can't you see I love a cowboy And I promised him my hand I don't want your house and money I don't want your goods and land Nancy's father spoke up sharply Said You'll do as you are told You'll be married on the Sunday You will wear the ring of gold (Chorus)
The cattleman spoke with fury Said You will not have that man And he rode from town in anger With a rifle in his hand He came back from Colorado On his pony was a sack Deep red with the blood of the cowboy A-slung across the back (Chorus)
Pury Nancy cried in anguish She wept and tore her hair She slipped into her father's room And found a pistol lying there On the Sunday came the wedding The townsfolk gathered at noon They saw Nancy pull the pistol And shoot down that wealthy groom (Chorus)
Nancy said I am not sorry When the jury heard the tale Though he rots beneath the ground And I shall rot in jail There in the crowded courtroom Twelve good men took their stand Said We will not hold you, Nancy For killing that wealthy man (Chorus)
Notes from Sing Out!: "Women are always getting killed in murder ballads," Robin Williams declares, but he's decided that it's a tradition worth breaking. "Step It Out Nancy" is what Linda Williams gleefully calls "an affirmative action murder ballad." Robin and Linda's original songs are rooted in the mountain music of the south. "We try to delve into every subject of country music," Robin says, "and of course murder ballads are among the most popular." Robin and Jerome Clark wrote the lyrics for "Step It Out Nancy" after listening to the Dayhills sing "Step It Out Mary," a suicide ballad of Irish origin (on Mom's Favorites, Biscuit City 1308). Mary is a young woman in love with a sailor, but her father orders her to marry for wealth. On her wedding day, Mary and the sailor drown themselves. In "Step It Out Nancy," the story moves to the American west and the heroine chooses a different fate. Robin and Linda are known for their harmony singing, and we've included a harmony line here. To hear their variations on this basic harmony, listen to "Step It Out Nancy" on Dixie Highway Sign (JAO31, June Appal Records, Box 743, Whitesburg KY 41858).
Source: Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine, Volume 27, No. 5 (Sept/Oct 1979), page 16
This transcription doesn't match the Robin and Linda Williams recording. I wonder where it came from.