The Butcher's Boy

Lyrics

She went upstairs to make her bed

And not one word to her mother she said

Her mother she went upstairs too

Said, "Daughter, oh daughter, what troubles you?"

"Oh mother, oh mother, I cannot tell

That railroad boy I love so well

He's courted me my life away

And now at home he will not stay

There is a place in London town

Where that railroad boy goes and sits down

And he takes that strange girl on his knee

And he tells to her what he won't tell me"

Father he came in from work

He said, "Where's daughter, she looks so hurt"

He went upstairs to give her hope

But he found her hanging from a rope

He took his knife and cut her down

And in her bosom these words they found:

"Dig my grave both wide and deep

Put a marble slab at my head and feet

And over my bones put a snow white dove

So this world can see that I died for love"

Credits

• Written by: Traditional
• Produced by: Anthony Marinelli
• Recorded at Royce Hall, Los Angeles 2001-04-25
• Musicians:

Elvis Costello - vocal, acoustic guitar

Bill Frisell - acoustic guitar

Eliza Carthy - fiddle

Don Byron - clarinet

Discography

Albums:

• none

Singles:

• none

Collections:

• none

Soundtracks:

• none

Various Artists collections:

• The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited, 2006

Alternate Versions:

• none

Covers

• Buell Kazee, 1928 (collected on Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music, 1952)
• Jeannie Robertson, on Songs Of A Scots Tinker Lady: Traditional Scots Ballads And Songs, 1960
• Joan Baez, on Joan Baez Vol. 2, 1961 ("Railroad Boy")
• Tommy Makem, on Songs Of Tommy Makem, 1961
• Frank Proffitt, on Frank Proffitt of Reese, North Carolina, 1962
• Peggy Seeger, on 124 Folk Songs As Sung And Recorded On Folkways Records, 1965
• Kirsty MacColl, on "Caroline" CD single, 1995
• Sinead O'Connor, on The Butcher Boy soundtrack, 1998

Bootlegs

• This section may be incomplete.