Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 05:29 PM

Little Mary Parker
She went to school one day
She little knew the sorrow
While going on her way

She left her home at seven
She kissed her momma goodbye
But not one time did the little girl think
That she was going to die

It was while she was playing
Enjoying life on high
Up stepped ol Red Bird Hickman
And told little Mary a lie

He told little Mary Parker
Said news said news for you
Your mother sick little Mary
And sent me after you

Of course she thought him honest
And telling her the truth
She started off with Hickman
And there she met her doom

It was on one lonesome evening
When Hickman started to town
He bound little Mary Parker
Where she couldn't make no sound

He bound Little Mary Parker
He took her precious life
He cut her all to pieces
Just with his pocket knife

He wrapped little Mary's body
He wrapped it piece by piece
And handed it to her father
And said she was asleep

When the Lord comes down from heaven
He comes down with all his power
You'll know the time has come
Just at that very hour

So children all take warning
From this till judgement day
Whenever you meet a stranger
Just go right on your way

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: GUEST,wannabeyooper
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 02:01 AM

my mother passed away April 2010. She was 98 years old. I remember her playing the piano and singing this song. The top version. I know the tune well. I remember asking her to play and sing it. I would always ask did this really happen? I would get kind of scared too. She would tell me yes it happened and to never go with a stranger!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 10:55 PM

At pages 93-94, under the heading '81 The Marian Parker Murder', Meade et alia in 'Country Music Sources' has 6 separate entries:

a. 'Little Marian Parker' [Bill Barrett (Carson J. Robison)1928] with reference given to Laws F33. Three 1928 recordings by Dalhart Columbia 15218-D, Banner 7074 and numerous other labels, and Path
32350 and numerous other labels.

b. 'Marian Parker II' with reference to Laws F56. 1927 (released 1928) recording by John McGhee under the title 'The Marian Parker Murder' Gennett 6362 and numerous other labels.

c. 'Little Marian Parker III' [Andrew Jenkins/Irene Spain, 1928] with reference to Laws F57. 1928 recording by Andrew Jenkins Okeh 45197.

d. 'Murder of Marian Parker'. Another 1928 recording by Dalhart. Grey Gull 4237 and other labels.

e. 'Fate of Edward Hickman' [Andrew Jenkins 1928] with reference to Laws E49. 1928 recording by Jenkins Okeh 45197 [I don't understand this: it has the same recording date and label issue as (c) above, but different title]. The other recording under the title 'Fate of Edward Hickman' is by Edd Rice, also 1928, and issued as Vocalion 5216.

f. 'Hanging of the Fox' [Bill Barrett (Carson J. Robison) 1928] 1928 vocal duet by Robison and Dalhart issued as Columbia 15251-D and Columbia 19017.

--Stewie.

Subject: Add Version & Tune: Little Marian Parker
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Sep 03 - 09:15 PM

Here's the version McNeil collected. The lyrics are quite different, but the tune looks like it would fit the version in the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

---

LITTLE MARIAN PARKER

Away out in California
Lived a family bright and gay.
There were planning for their Christmas
Not very far away.

When along came a murderous stealer
With a heart as hard as stone,
Took little Marian Parker
Away from friends and home.

He took her to the movies,
He gave her candy too.
He told her every promise
That he would be kind and true.

I only want the money
That your daddy can give.
And if he'll give the money
His little child can live.

But late in the evening
She found that he had lied,
For before the evening sunset
The little child had died,

O there is a great commandment
Thou shalt not kill,
And those who do not heed it
Must suffer unto God's will.

This song should be a warning
To parents far and near.
You can't guide too closely
The ones you love so dear.




COLLECTED JUNE 25, 1979, BY W.K. MCNEIL FROM REBECCA SIMMONS, SHIRLEY. ARKANSAS. TRANSCRIPTION BY W.K. MCNEIL.

source: Southern Folk Ballads, Volume 2 (W.K. McNeil, 1988)

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: raredance
Date: 05 May 02 - 01:05 AM

The tune in McNeil Vol 2 for Little Marian Parker is not the same tune as the tune for Little Mary Phagan in the Brown Collection.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 May 02 - 07:15 AM

Thanks, Masato. The Mary Phagan tune can also be found at Max Hunter:  Little Mary Fagan  As sung by Mrs. Iva Haslett in West Plains, Missouri on July 31, 1958.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: masato sakurai
Date: 04 May 02 - 06:17 AM

No tune is given in Burt, American Murder Ballads (pp. 65-66), from which the DT version is copied, but Burt says, "This is sung to the same tune as 'Mary Phagan'". "Mary Phagan" (Laws #F20) (as Mary Fagan in the DT, without tune) has been discussed in a number of threads: e.g., Lyr Req: Little Grave in Georgia and Lyrics for Mary Phagen or Fagen or Fagin ?. The tune in McNeil ("Little Marian Parker"; vol. 2, p. 68) was collected June 25, 1979, from Rebecca Simmons, Shirley, Arkansas. There're four Marion Parker ballads in The Frank C. Brown Collection, Vol. II (nos. 254-257; 257 is "Edward Hickman"; texts only). "Little Marion Parker" in the Max Hunter Collection (Click here), sung by Glenn Ohrlin, Mountain View, Arkansas on May 29, 1969, is a variant of a different ballad (Brown no. 256). The girl's name may have been "Marion". The murderer EDWARD HICKMAN's letter written before he was hanged is online (Click here).

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 May 02 - 09:57 PM

Always a good plan to check that a song has not already been posted; however in this case we do get a four-line final verse, where the DT has only two. What would be most useful, now, is a tune; apparantly one was given in W.K. McNeil's Southern Folk Ballads, Vol.2 (Little Rock: August House, 1988). Does anyone have that?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: masato sakurai
Date: 03 May 02 - 09:36 PM

MARIAN PARKER (from Burt, American Murder Ballads) is in the DT. Background info with two versions (one is from the DT) is HERE.

~Masato

Subject: Lyr Add: Little Marian Parker
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 03 May 02 - 09:14 PM

LITTLE MARIAN PARKER
Recorded by: Vernon Dalhart

Way out in California
A family bright and gay
Were plannin' for their Christmas
Not very far away
They had a little daughter
A sweet and pretty child
And all the folks who knew her
Loved Marian Parker's smile

She left her home one mornin'
For school not far away
And no one dreamed that danger
Could come to her that day
And then a murderous villian
A fiend with heart of stone
Took little Marian Parker
Away from friends and home

The world was horror-stricken
And people held their breath
Until they found poor Marian
Her body cold in death
And then they caught the coward
Young Hickamn was their man
They brought him back to justice
His final trial to stand

There is a Great Commandment
That says, 'Thou Shall Not Kill'
And those who do not heed it
Their cup of sorrow fill
This song should be a warnin'
To parents far and near
We cannot guard too closely
The ones we love so dear