> Folk Music > Songs > The Dying Girl's Message / A Token
The Dying Girl's Message / A Token
[
Roud 3530
; Ballad Index R707
; trad.]
Vance Randolph printed The Dying Girl's Message, as sung by Mrs Elizabeth Waddell of Ash Grove, Missouri, on 17 June 1927, in his book Ozark Folksongs, Volume IV, Religious Songs and Other Items, no.. 707. He noted:
Belden (Ballads and Songs, 1940, p. 217) found this in Missouri in 1906, and remarks that it was No. 761 in Wehman's ballad prints, copyright 1885.
Max Hunter collected A Token from Frank Pool of Fayetteville, Arkansas, on 6 January 1958. Rachel Newton sang this version on her 2018 CD West.
Lyrics
Elizabeth Waddell sings The Dying Girl's Message | Rachel Newton sings A Token |
---|---|
Raise the window, mother darling, |
Raise the window, mother darling, |
Death will soon relieve my sorrow, |
Death will soon relieve my sorrow, |
There is one, you know him, mother, |
There is one, you know him, mother, |
You remember how I trusted, |
And you remember how I trusted |
You remember how he left me, | |
When my sorrows are all over, | |
Take this ring from off my finger |
Take this ring from off my finger |
Tell him 'tis a token, mother, |
And tell him, it's a token, mother, |
I am cool now, close the window, | |
He is waiting to receive me, | |
It's led, I'll obey the summons | |
When my troubles all are over |