Buna and Bertha Transcript
- This old dulcimer goes pretty familiar to me because-- This here is Buna Hicks here, with this dulcimore. North Carolina here. I live here at Beech Creek, and I was raised up on the mountain with my mother and dad. I was the youngest one that was. Felt pretty lonesome up there on that high mountain. And I still yet think of it a lot. And I'm growing old now. I'm going on 85 years old. It's many things that I can think of that's passed by in the time that's gone by. Some good and some bad, I guess. I used to go off to that mountain school. I had to walk all the way,and I had nothing to ride in. Didn't see--if I'd have met a car or truck or something like that in the road, probably I would have run from it. Wouldn't know what it meant, and so-- We made it though. And I'm glad that it's with me as it has been. I still think of the old place up on the mountain that I used to be at when I was a kid.
This here-- this music I'm a-telling you about is something that's really interesting, or it is to me and I hope is to a lot of other people, for I am with them sometimes, and we're singing these songs and, and it seems like they're all interested in it awful well. And that helps me up a little bit, you know. I learnt these old love songs. My husband used to sing them, and he learned them of his mother. Becky Hicks was his mother. I learned of him, and he learned of her. She was-- learnt her children songs that way and told them old stories. And I know it must have been a lot of pleasure to the children. And spiritual songs, I sing them. I learnt them at the old church house where my daddy used to go and preach, up on the mountain.
Had great meetings. There was no cars and trucks and anything like that then, and they just fetched their horses, sometimes a yoke of oxes and a wagon. And well, if we seed one a-coming with horses and what they called a surrey, we knowed they's rich people. We didn't know what to think of that. We knowed they had to be rich if they could have anything like that. And so we didn't have nothing like that. My daddy did try to keep a horse to plow with, back in the old times.
The love songs, I sung them back when I was younger, you know. They. . . I was interested in them a lot when I was young, and I understood some of them. And it pays anybody to sing a little bit slower, if they can, and get the understanding of these words, what they mean. They mean a lot sometimes. And I think it would be a help to young folks and, and get the understanding of them. It might be a warning to a body, to learn a little more about the, how to start out. And then, since late years, I've been a-singing spiritual songs for the folks. Learned 'em back, way years ago on the mountain where my daddy used to go and hold services, preacher, and, and we sung them old songs. And, and so I keep him in remembrance and sing some of them yet, and you know, it, it means a lot.
And if we'll just sing a little, not sing too fast, and get the understanding of these words, it'll get down in our system. It gives me a lift. Yeah. I just, I just like them. I think the world of the old spiritual songs. That's how come me to take off with them. They mean a lot to me, and I hope they do to other people. If they'll just take one and listen, they mean a lot-- to lead us on the right way. I used to have a father, but now I've got none. He has gone to that home on high. Prepare me, oh Lord, for that sail on a ship. For that ship that's sailing by. I, The weeks are so long, and the days so sad. It seems like years to me. Prepare me, oh Lord, for that sail on a ship, For that ship that's sailing by. I used to have a mother, but now I've got none. She has gone to that home on high. Prepare me, oh Lord, for that sail on a ship. For that ship that's sailing by. The weeks is so long and the days are so sad, It seems like years to me. Prepare me, oh Lord, for that sail on a ship. That ship that's sailing by. Well, it goes on, brothers and sisters. It's a mighty lonesome song to me, for that's the way I am. My father and mother and brothers and sisters have gone on. Abram Bailey had three sons, The youngest one was Center. All through the wild woods he ran, just like a jovial hunter. Rode his humble steed to rest, Blow your horn, Center. And on his way he went again, Just like a jovial hunter. Another one I like, there's several more verses to that. I just, there isn't, not got time to finish singing it but it's several more verses of it. It's an old song. I'm going to play "Pretty Fair Maiden" now. I like it. It's a pretty tune.
- [Bertha] I was born in Alexander County in North Carolina in a little place they call the . . . Mill. And my song that I'm supposed to sing now is-- I learned it from my father. He sung it many years ago. I was born in 1880. Is that all you want to know?
- And your full name?
- Yeah, Bertha Hubbard Baird.
♪ I'll put my knapsack on my back, ♪
♪ My rifle on my shoulder. ♪
♪ I'll march away to New Orleans, ♪
♪ And there I'll be a soldier
♪ Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.♪
♪"How old are you, my pretty little miss, How old are you, my honey?"♪
♪She answered me with a modesty, "I'll be sixteen next Sunday."♪
♪Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.♪
♪"Will you marry me, my pretty little miss, Will you marry me, my honey?"♪
♪She answered me with a modesty, "You'll have to ask my mommy."♪
♪Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.♪
♪"I'll put my knapsack on my back, My rifle on my shoulder.♪
♪I'll march away to New Orleans And there I'll be a soldier."♪
♪Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.♪
♪Well, the coffee grows on white oak trees, And the river flows with brandy.♪
♪The streets are lined with ten dollar bills, And the girls all sweet as candy.♪
♪Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.♪
That's it.
- [Tom Burton] Would you sing Bo Lamkin now?
- Oh, no.
- [Burton] Sing just a little
- It's too long.
- Just a little bit of it though. Please?
- I think "Pretty Fair Maid" would be prettier than that.
- That's good. All right, go ahead..
- Or "One Morning In May," either one.
- All right, either one.
- I don't know whether I can sing either one of them, or not.
♪Pretty fair maid, all in a garden. A soldier boy were passing by.♪
♪All in these words he did address her, Saying, "Pretty fair lady, will you marry me?"♪
♪"No sir, no sir, I've got a father. A man of honor you may be.♪
♪How can you force a poor young lady To marry you, your bride to be?♪
♪I have a true love on the ocean, For seven long years been gone away.♪
♪And if he's gone seven more years longer, Not a man on earth can marry me."♪
♪"Perhaps your true love has got drownded, Perhaps he's in some battle slain♪
♪ Perhaps he's got some girl and married, Whose face you never again can see.♪
♪Perhaps my true love has got drownded, Perhaps he's in some battle slain.♪
♪And if he stole some girl and married, I'll love the girl that married him."♪
♪He ran his hands all in his pocket. His fingers they were neat and strong.♪
♪Saying, "Here's the ring I keep out on there." Straight down before him she did fall.♪
♪He picked her up, all in his arms, Kisses gave her one, two, three.♪
♪ Saying, "If I'd stayed seven more years longer, Not a girl on earth could have married me. ♪
