Lyr Req: Nellie

Subject: Nellie
From: BigDaddy
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 01:58 AM

Looking for lyrics to a song I heard some local folkies do when I was child. "Swing from the bell, Nellie, swing from the bell; Your father is locked in a cold prison cell..." Anyway, Nellie attempts to prevent her father's hanging by holding onto the bell so that "curfew will not ring tonight." Anyone? Thanks.

J.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nellie
From: Patrish(inactive)
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 06:00 AM

click here
Patrish

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nellie
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 06:09 AM

That is not the version that I have heard and it seems to mention a lover rather than a father. Trying to pick fragments up from memory I can come up with a chorus that goes along the lines of:

Hang on the bell Nellie, hang on the bell
You poor father's locked in an old prison cell
She swings to the left and she swings to the right
Remember the curfew must never ring tonight.

Does that ring any bells with anyone?

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nellie
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 06:14 AM

I was too hasty - should have checked the DT first. It is here

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nellie
From: BigDaddy
Date: 21 Sep 00 - 01:33 AM

Thank you all, especially Jon. That's the one. Had tried the DT but with the wrong words. The duo I heard it from probably got it from the Chad Mitchell Trio. Right time frame. Regards, J.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Nellie
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 21 Sep 00 - 02:50 AM

Joe Hickerson, former head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress, recorded it for Folk-Legacy -- cassette only right now, C-39.

Sandy