Cox gives 2 versions of 'Drowsy Sleeper', one under the title 'Silver Dagger' 'probably because the last 2 stanzas of it belong to that song'. For English and Scots references, Cox cites 'The Journal of American Folk-Lore' XX, p260. Of particular interest is this note: ' "The Drowsy Sleeper" an interesting variant of a song know, in a Nithsdale version, to Allan Cunningham , and given in part in a note to "O, my love's like a red, red rose" in his edition of Burns, 1834, iv, 285 (Kittredge "Journal" XX, p260'.

For American texts, Cox references several volumes of the 'Journal' [XX, 260, Kentucky; XXIX, 200, Georgia; XXX, 338, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Utah; XXXV, 356, Ohio]. Other references are to Sharp, Belden, Campbell and Sharp, Sturgis and Hughes, Pound and others.

The two Cox texts are reproduced below. He also has two variants of 'Silver Dagger' as his #109. Below also is a transcription of a field recording of an Illinois version of 'Drowsy Sleeper' which includes a variant of the 'willow' stanza.

THE DROWSY SLEEPER

'Rouse up, rouse up, you drowsy sleeper
Rouse up, 'tis almost day
Open your doors, let down your window
What your true love has to say'

'Go away from my window, you'll waken my mother
This thing you call courting, she does despise
Go way, go way, and court some other
For what I say, I mean no harm'

'I won't go way nor court no other
For you are the one that I love best
For you are the one that I love dearly
And in your arms I hope to rest'

'Go way from my window, you'll waken my father
Who is taking his rest
For under his pillow there lies a weapon
To kill the one that I love best'

'Down in yon meadow there lies a sharp arrow
I'll draw it across my peaceful breast
It will cut off all love and sorrow
And send my peaceful soul to rest'

Source: John Harrington Cox 'Folk-Songs of the South' #108A. Communicated by Miss Violet Noland, Davis, Tucker County, West Virginia, 24 March 1916. Obtained from Mr John Raese who learned it when a boy and wrote it down in 1880.

THE SILVER DAGGER

'O Mary, go and ask your mother
If you my wedded bride may be
And if she says no, pray come and tell me
And I'll no longer trouble thee'

'I dare not go and ask my mother
For she said she would part us
Then, Willie, go and ask another',
She gently whispered in his ear

'Then, Mary, go and ask your father
If you my wedded wife may be
And if he says no, pray come and tell me
And I'll no longer trouble thee'

'I dare not go and ask my father
For at night he lies at rest
Close to his side there lies a dagger
To pierce the heart that I love best'

Then William drew a silver dagger
And pierced it to his aching heart
Saying, 'Here's farewell, my own true lover'
Saying, 'Here's farewell for we must part'

Then Mary drew that silver dagger
And pierced it in her snow-white breast
Saying, 'Here's farewell to father and mother
Farewell to all that I love best'

Source: John Harrington Cox 'Folk-Songs of the South' #108B. Communicated by Miss Maud I. Jefferson, West Liberty, Ohio County, West Virginia, 1917. Obtained from Miss Roberts.


AWAKE, ARISE, YOU DROWSY SLEEPER

'Awake, arise, you drowsy sleeper
Awake, arise, 'tis almost day
And open wide your bedroom window
Hear what your true love has to say'

'Oh, Mary dear, go ask your father
Whether you my bride may be
And if he says no, love, come and tell me
It's the very last time I'll trouble thee'

'I dare not go to ask my father
For he lies on his couch of rest
And by his side he keeps a weapon
To slay the one that I love best'

'Oh, Mary dear, go ask your mother
Whether you my bride may be
And if says no, love, come and tell me
It's the very last time I'll trouble thee'

'I dare not go to ask my mother
To let her know my love is near
But, dearest dear, go court some other',
She gently whispered in my ear

'Oh, Mary dear, oh dearest Mary,
It is for you my heart will break
From North to South to Pennsylvania
I'll roam the ocean for your sake'

'And now I'll go down by some silent river
And there I'll spend my days and years,
And there I'll plant a weeping willow
Beneath its shade I'll shed my tears'

'Come back, come back, my wounded lover
Come back, come back to me, I pray
And I'll forsake both father, mother
And with you I'll run away'

Source: Duncan Emrich 'American Folk Poetry: An Anthology' Little, Brown and Company 1974, p83. Transcription of 'Awake, Arise, You Drowsy Sleeper' recorded by Aubrey and Phyllis Pinkerton from the singing of Lester A. Coffee, Harvard, Illinois, 1946. Library of Congress record LP55. Laws M4.

--Stewie.