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THE WAXFORD GIRL (THE NOEL GIRL; THE OXFORD GIRL; THE LEXINGTON MURDER) Sung by: John Harrell, Nancy Ruth, and Harrell Vocham Recorded in Marshall, AR 6/14/63 Click here to listen to the original recording I used to live and dwell. There was a town of Waxford; I owned a flour mill. I fell in love with a nice young girl With a dark and rolling eye. I asked her to take a walk with me Out o'er the meadow so fair. We walked along and we talked along 'Til we came to level ground. I picked me up a stick of edge And knocked this poor girl down. She downed upon her bending knees; For mercy she did cry, Saying, "Willy, dear, don't murder me here. I'm not prepared to die." I . . . not a word she said; I beat her all the more. I beat her 'til the ground all around Was a-covered in the blood and gore. I picked her up by her own curly hair; And slung her 'round and 'round. I threw her in the riverside That runs through Waxford town. It was twelve o'clock or after When I got home that night. My mother being worried, She woke all in a fright. Saying, "Son, dear son, what have you done That's bloodied your hands and clothes?' The answer that I gave to her Was bleeding at the nose. It was a week or after, This Waxford girl was found A-floating down the river That run through Waxford town. Her sister swore my life away Without a fear or doubt. She swore that I was the same young man That took her sister out. (Nancy Ruth: "That's it." Mr. Harrell: "No, there's a little more that I forgot. I forgot it. That's about it.") They taken me up and suspicious, They swore my life away. (Nancy Ruth: "That wasn't the way. 'They had me all locked up in Waxford Jail. In something. You know, you need to rehearse a song a couple of times . . .") Also found in Randolph, Vol. II, #150, "The Noel Girl"; Brown, Vol. II, #65, "The Lexington Murder"; Belden, p. 133, "The Oxford Girl." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |