Ballads & Songs of Southern Michigan-songbook

A Collection of 200+ traditional songs & variations with commentaries including Lyrics & Sheet music

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Unhappy Love                       107
33 THE OLD OAK TREE
For a slightly longer text see Greenleaf and Mansfield, pp. 116-118 Sec also JFSS, I, 386-187, f°r a Part oi the same ballad, but with interesting differences. Version A was sung in 1935 by Mrs. Allan McGlellan, near Bad Axe.
A
1    The night was dark, high blew the wind, And heavy fell the rain;
Young Betsy left her own dear home,
And came not back again.
She left her widowed mother's side,
Not fearing rain nor cold;
She had been young and fair to view,
But love had made her bold.
2   That very night at ten o'clock Beneath the old oak tree,
She promised Jimmy, her own true love, That with him she would be.