Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde

Subject: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 31 Dec 05 - 12:25 AM

ARTHUR CLYDE

I am dying, sister, dying
And my voice is getting low
I have something I must tell you
Sister dear, before I go

It is sad but true, dear sister
Catch each sad and awful word
Soon your brother will be sleeping
And his voice no longer heard

Sister dear, your Arthur's missing
But you hope to meet him still
Hope that some bright day you'll meet him
Sister dear, you never will

Him you loved, was him I hated
Hated why, I cannot tell
But to see him with you sister,
It was more than life to me

So, I chanced one eve in autumn
While th moon did brightly show
Strolling by th rolling river
I met Arthur all alone

Words that passed, I don't remember
But I in a passion flew
And I fought him sword and dagger
Then and there, your Arthur slew

Then I thought of you, my sister
O, so young, to be left alone
An' ten-thousand worlds I'd given
To undue th deed I done

But I knew that all my weeping
All th tears that I could shed
Would not bring life to your Arthur
Lying there, so cold and dead

So, I picked up his lifeless body
Rolled it over th river side
Now I leave this world to wonder
What became of Arthur Clyde

You'll forgive me, won't you, sister
O, this awful deed I've done
Speak, I cannot live much longer
Life's free race is nearly run

You will meet your love in heaven
In a world that knows no sin
You will meet, dear me, no never
God won't let a murderer in

When I stand before my maker
O, this awful deed to tell
Kiss, o kiss, your dying brother
Sister dear, farewell, farewell

Cat. #0150 (MFH #5) - As sung by Mrs. Sam "Iva" Haslett, West Plains, Missouri on July 31, 1958

Arthur Clyde

From the . . . .

Max Hunter Folk Song Collection

And then there's also . . . .

Arthur Clyde

From . . . .

Voices From the Dust Bowl

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 31 Dec 05 - 12:27 AM

Let's try that second version again . . . .

Arthur Clyde

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 11:28 AM

Here's a working link for Arthur Clyde as sung by Troy Cambron at Arvin FSA Camp 8-14-40.

Source:
Voices From the Dust Bowl at American Memory.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 11:44 AM

Recorded by Lohman Cansler on Missouri Folk Songs LP on Folkways (1959).


"Perhaps the most interesting of the new songs is 'Arthur Clyde,' a murder ballad which seems to have taken it's start from one of the popular death bed songs."

Review of Cansler LP by D.K. Wilgus, Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 73, No. 287 (Jan. 1960), p. 90

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 06:32 AM

I believe the Ballad Index has information about this song:

http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/BalladIndex.html

However, the page is so freakin' large, and my old computer is so short of memory, that my computer froze before I could copy any of the information.

Maybe someone less handicapped will copy the relevant entry here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 03:56 PM

Here's the Ballad Index entry, pretty slim . . .

Arthur Clyde
DESCRIPTION: Singer, dying, confesses to his sister that he murdered and buried her former lover, Arthur Clyde, because he could not bear to see Clyde with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (recording, Loman D. Cansler)
KEYWORDS: murder death dying sister lover
FOUND IN: US(So)
Roud #15752
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "Arthur Clyde" (on Cansler1)
Notes: Cansler states he learned this from his family, and has not heard it elsewhere. - PJS

The Roud Index lists the recordings from American Memory and Max Hunter.

Anyone have anything else on this one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Arthur Clyde
From: Goose Gander
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 08:04 PM

ARTHUR CLYDE

I am dying, sister, dying
And my voice is getting low
I have something I must tell you
Sister dear, before I go

Sister darling, Arthur's missing
Whom you longed some day to wed
Weep not faint not O dear sister
When I tell you Arthur's dead.

Him you loved but him I hated
Hated why I was not sure
But to see him with you sister,
Was more than I could endure.

So at last one autumn evening
As the pale moon brightly shone
Down beside the rolling waters
I met Arthur all alone.

Words that passed I don't remember
For I in a passion flew
And we fought with sword and dagger
Then an' there I Arthur slew

Then I thought of you dear sister
Thought how you'd be left alone
And I'd give my life dear sister
To undo this deed I done.

But I knew with all my weeping
All the tears that I might shed
Could not bring life back to Arthur
Lying there so cold and dead

So I took his lifeless body
Cast it o'er the river side
And I leave this world to wonder
What became of Arthur Clyde

Source:
Folksongs of Missouri, Sung by Loman D. Cansler (Folkways FH 5324).

Notes:
"One of the earliest songs learned from my parents, I have failed to find it elsewhere. It has been sung in the Cansler family for three or more generations. While murder or the confession of murder is quite commonly reported in folksongs, it is not common to find the triangle involved which this song unfolds."