Little Scotch-ee
Channel: Stephen Griffith
Date: 2020-04-17

Day 32 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series  (folksongindex.com)

Carl Sandburg writes, "The little drama presented here is as somber with groaning shadows as certain scenes from the plays of Shakespeare or those chapters in the Bible dealing with Samson and Delilah or the woman known as Jezebel.

"Sung deliberately and with understanding of its implications, delivered as a  series of character roles and situations having contrast, it has the pride of an ancient tapestry, with  gashes of knife thrusts and splotches of red that are on second look found to be dry blood.

"We are indebted for this text to Reed Smith of the University of South Carolina and his original work in  "The Traditional Ballad and Its South Carolina Survivals," published by the Extension Division  of the University of South Carolina. The ballad is hoary, of many variants, sometimes called  " Young Hunting," known in America usually as "Lord Henry," "Love Henry," or "Loving Henry."

"This specimen of "The Old Scotch Well," or "Little Scotch-ee," is from Miss Tressie Pierce of Columbia, South Carolina, who learned it in Alexander County, North Carolina."