DEAR BROTHER GREEN
(BROTHER GREEN)
Sung by: Mrs. Alfred Overholzer
Recorded in Lewisburg, TN 5/6/62

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(Comment by Mrs. Overholzer: "This next ballad is one my grandmother told me to be sure not to remember. Her mother had not wanted her to sing it. It was taught to her by renters on the place. The only objectionable feature in it that I could see was that it mentions the 'Southern foe,' so I suppose that's why my great-grandmother didn't like it.")

Dear Brother Green, do come to me,
For I am shot and dying.
The Southern foe has laid me low,
On this cold ground to suffer.

Stay, Brother, stay, and lay me away,
And write my wife a letter.
Tell her that I am prepared to die
And hope we'll meet in Heaven.

Tell her to teach the children right,
That they may be respected . . .
(Comment by Mrs. Overholzer: "My grandmother didn't remember the rest of it, so we ended it with . . .")
And this is all of the song I know,
And it's all that could be expected.

Also found in Randolph, Vol. II, #211, "Brother Green"; Brown, Vol. III, #393, "Brother Green"; Belden, p. 377, "Brother Green."

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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