FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS (Virginia's Alders)

Friends and neighbors, I'm going for to leave you,
I have no doubt that you think it is strange.
But God be pleas-ed, I never have rob-bed,
Neither have I done any wrong.

Some will say it’s for some bad action,
Some will say it’s for something wrong,
Whilst others may say a different notion
Happened to run into my mind.

Once I courted a pretty fair maiden,
Well I knew that she did love me,
But Nature’s cries, so all undaunted
Call me across the raging sea.

I courted her both late and early,
I courted her by night and day,
But as I earned it, a deal I did spend it,
Free and lonely I’ll jog away.

I’ll go down into the Susquehanna,
There I’ll stop, but I’ll make no stay.
Down in Kill’s Ferry I will pass over,
To Virginia’s alders I’ll bend my way.

When I arrive in Virginia’s alders,
There I’ll stop, and I’ll stay awhile,
Until I hear from my friends and neighbors
And the handsome young girl I left behind.

NOTES: FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. According to George Edwards, this unusual song was composed by his mother to a hymn-tune called Praise The Mountain, of which he sang a few lines. We have located these lines with the proper title Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing and the correct tune Nettleton, first published in 1813. The tune has had other hymn titles and texts, and has been adapted also for the broadside ballad William Hall. The fitness of the melody to the mood and sense of FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS shows an excellent sense of values. Only vague resemblances of theme connect this text with two rare songs from the South, Farewell To Carter County (Thomas) and Parting Friends (Lomax). We have been unable to locate the place names in the text, except for the Susquehanna River, which rises in the Catskills.

Jackson 1 174°; Jackson 2 95°, 127°; Lomax 1 564;
Methodist #23°; Sharp 6 11/239°, 241°. 242°;
Thomas 1 84°; Thomas 3 170; Wyman 1 100°.


Source: The Abelard Folk Song Book, edited by Norman Cazden, pp 38-39 (Abelard-Schuman, New York & London, 1958)
Also #35 in Folk Songs of the Catskills, by Cazden, Haufrecht, Studer (1982)

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Sally Rogers recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMlynntAMLg (may not play outside US)

Recording by Bill Shute & Lisa Null: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4K7uTX6DNw

An interesting interpretation by Happy Traum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YiB_vkqL-Y