Silver Dagger
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Don't sing love songs; you'll wake my mother.
She's sleeping here, right by my side
And in her right hand, a silver dagger.
She says that I can't be your bride.
"All men are false", says my mother.
"They'll tell you wicked, lovin' lies.
The very next evening, they'll court another,
Leave you alone to pine and sigh."
My daddy is a handsome devil.
He's got a chain five miles long
And on every link a heart does dangle
Of another maid he's loved and wronged.
Go court another tender maiden
And hope that she will be your wife
For I've been warned and I've decided
To sleep alone all of my life.
"Silver Dagger", with variants such as "Katy Dear", "Molly Dear",<br> "The Green Fields and Meadows", "Awake, Awake, Ye Drowsy Sleepers" and others<br> is an American folk ballad, whose origins lie possibly in Britain.<br> This large group of related songs is sometimes called the "Silver Dagger Family"<br> of songs. It includes "Katy Dear" and "Who's That Knocking at My Window" in<br> this collection.<br> These songs of different titles are closely related, and two strands<br> in particular became popular in commercial Country music and Folk music<br> recordings of the twentieth century: the "Silver Dagger" version popularized<br> by Joan Baez, and the "Katy Dear" versions popularized by Ian and Silvia and others.<br> In "Silver Dagger", the female narrator turns away a potential suitor, as her<br> mother has warned her to avoid the advances of men in an attempt to spare her<br> daughter the heartbreak that she herself has endured. The 1960 recording by Joan Baez<br> features only a fragment of the full ballad.<br> "Katy Dear" uses the same melody but different lyrics, telling a similar story<br> from a male perspective.<br> Cecil Sharp's #57C has a nearly identical melody to this one.<br> Steve Roud observes on one version of the song titled "O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother":<br> "A whole book could be written on this song and its connections with other songs<br> which involve young men at their sweethearts' windows at night, disapproving parents<br> and silver daggers. Hugely popular with North American traditional singers,<br> 'Drowsy Sleeper' was also collected regularly in Britain and appeared on broadsides<br> there from at least the 1820s"<br> <br> Recording history:<br> 1926 – Kelly Harrell – "O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother"<br> 1927 – B. F. Shelton – "Oh Molly Dear"<br> 1938 – Blue Sky Boys – "Katie Dear"<br> 1938 – The Carter Family – "Who's The Knockin' On My Window"<br> 1956 – The Louvin Brothers - "Silver Dagger" on Tragic Songs of Life<br> 1960 – Joan Baez's - "Silver Dagger" on her debut album<br> 1963 – The Country Gentlemen - "Silver Dagger" on Hootenanny: A Bluegrass Special<br> 1964 – Ian & Sylvia – "Katie Dear" on Four Strong Winds<br> 1964 – Bob Dylan – "Silver Dagger" appears on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6<br> 1964 – Dave Van Ronk - "Silver Dagger" on Inside Dave Van Ronk<br> 1999 – Dolly Parton - "Silver Dagger" on The Grass Is Blue<br>
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