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Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver
DigiTrad:
FRANKIE SILVERS
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Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER^^ From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 30 Jan 02 - 06:47 PM THE BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER ^^ This dreadful dark and dismal day Has swept my glories all away; My sun goes down, my days are past, And I must leave this world at last. Oh! Lord, what will become of me? I am condemmed, you all now see; To heaven or hell my soul must fly, All in a moment when I die. Judge Donnell my sentence has passed, These prison walls I leave at last; Nothing to cheer my drooping head Until I'm numbered with the dead. But Oh! That awful judge I fear. Shall I that awful sentence hear: "Depart, ye cursed, down to Hell And forever there to dwell." I know that frightful ghosts I'll see, Gnawing their flesh in misery; And then and there attended be For murder in the first degree. Then shall I meet that mournful face, Whose blood I spilled upon this place; With flaming eyes to me he'll say, "Why did you take my life away?" His feeble hands fell gently down. His chattering tongue soon lost its sound. To see his soul and body part It strikes with terror in my heart. I took his blooming days away, Left him no time to God to pray; And if sins fall upon his head, Must I not bear them in his stead? The jealous thought that first gave strife To make me take my husband's life, For months and days I spent my time Thinking how to commit this crime. And on a dark and doleful night I put the body out of sight, With flames I tried to him consume. But time would not admit it done. You all see me and on me gaze. Be careful how you spend your days; And never commit this awful crime, But try to serve your God in time. My mind on solemn subjects rolls. My little child, God bless its soul;
All you that are of Adam's race, |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Joe Offer Date: 31 Jan 02 - 04:07 AM Dicho, can I assume the tune is the same as the one from the shorter lyrics in the Digital Tradition? Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 31 Jan 02 - 05:29 PM Joe, the clickie I gave will give you not only Midi, but ABC, SongWright, Postscript, and Lilypond- whatever all those are. In addition, Penny whistle and Dulcimer tab are available as clicks. What more could anyone want except a singer to come to your door? I can't get the DT Midi to come up right now. I noticed on a thread of tunes wanted, someone, Mrzzy(?) noted that the Midi was faulty. There are Silver family reunions every year, and Stewarts attend. No one knows how the murder occurred. Sharyn McCrumb, in her novel, suggests the husband, drunk and belligerent, threatened the baby and Frankie. It is not clear from McCrumb's book, but the longer version may be her revision and subject to © Through Google, pictures of the sites associated with the crime, and notices about a play, a musical suite, a dance version of the story, a cd and other goodies are available. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,ruthanne Date: 06 Apr 03 - 01:47 PM Hello, I am just beginning research of the ballad of frankie silvers....I am looking to find the real deal lyrics....is tis the trues authentic/orginl ballad??? (the current mudcat posting)...do you or anyone know of any recordings by a female singer. need help on this for a theater project. any avaible cd's ith this ballad on it? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 02:37 PM The lyrics placed in the DT and the sheet music are probably as close as you will get to the old folk song (see link at bottom of Dicho's post, added by Joe Offer). The ballad lyrics by Sharyn McCrumb are hers and have been set to music (1998). From Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. 2, p. 124-125: "Muriel Early Sheppard (Cabins in the Laurel, 1935, pp. 25-29) tells the whole story and prints two songs about the murder, one of them credited to Frankie herself." The one from Randolph, posted by Dicho, above, was sung by Marie Wilber, Pineville, MO., 1934. She said she heard the song about 1910. Notes: The "Jedge Daniels" in the Randolph text was really Judge John R. Donnell. The Traditional Ballad Index (CSU, Fresno) lists some recordings, the earliest 1934. They refer to an 1886 mention of the song. Some authorities believe (quite a stretch of the imagination) that this song is the ancestor of "Frankie and Johnnie." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 02:52 PM See the Frankie Stewart Silver memorial website for more information: Frankie Silver Also see Frankie Silver Resources, compiled by Dr. Lana Whited: Silver Some good photos at Silver |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Joe Offer Date: 06 Apr 03 - 03:51 PM Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index. -Joe Offer- Frankie Silvers [Laws E13]DESCRIPTION: The singer, Frankie Silvers, has been condemned to die for murdering her husband. She describes the deed and its consequences with horror: "This dreadful, dark, and dismal day Has swept all my glories away." "But oh! that dreadful judge I fear...."AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1886 (Lenoir Topic, quoting the "Morganton paper") KEYWORDS: murder husband wife punishment execution HISTORICAL REFERENCES: Dec 22, 1831 - Frankie Silvers murders her husband Charles Silvers in North Carolina July 12, 1833 - Frankie Silvers is hanged FOUND IN: US(SE,So) REFERENCES (4 citations): Laws E13, "Frankie Silvers" Randolph 158, "Frankie Silver" (1 text, 1 tune) BrownII 301, "Frankie Silver" (1 text) DT 776, FRANSILV RECORDINGS: [Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "Frankie Silvers" (Vocalion 02647, 1934?) Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Frankie Silvers" (Columbia 15536-D, 1930) New Lost City Ramblers, "Frankie Silver" (on NLCR04) Notes: Brown has extensive background notes on this murder, without clear conclusions as to why Frankie Silvers murdered her husband, noting that the jury apparently believed the motive was jealousy. This incident has frequently been reported as the inspiration for "Frankie and Albert" also; see the notes to that song. In Brown's and Randolph's texts, the judge who convicted Frankie Silvers is called "Judge Daniels," but Randolph reports that he was actually named John R. Donnell. - RBW File: LE13 Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: raredance Date: 06 Apr 03 - 06:13 PM The long set of lyrics above cannot be McCrumb's since they are identical except for one word to the lyrics collected by Brwon and published in the FCBCNCF. The Brown text says these lyrics were contributed by M I Pickens, a student at Trinity College, in 1922. Tradition has it that the words were written by Frances Silver and delivered by her from the scaffold. Brown indicates that this tradition is "persistant and, it would seem, undisputed" The correction made by McCrumb is to change the name of the judge from "Daniels" in the Pickens text to "Donnell" who was the actual judge. This error in the Pickens text was noted by Brown. There is no musical transcription in the Brown collection. Brown also collected a version called "Susie Silvers" which was essentially the same as the Pickens text but minus the last three verses. A somewhat different version noted by Brown was contained in "The Serpent Slips into a Modern Eden" by James A Turpin (1925). Turpin's "chain of facts" as it were goes to an article in the Waynesville "Courrier" which was based on an older clipping from some local paper that was given to the "Courrier" editor. The older clipping, in turn, purported to quote Alfred Silver, "half-brother of the murdered man....living today...eighty seven years old". Alfred Silver is reported to have said "It was hoped that she [Frankie] would make a public confession of the scaffold and she seemed prepared to do so, but her father yelled our from the crowd, 'Die with your secret, Frances.'" However, Turpin goes on to say that the verses "were printed on a strip of paper and sold to people who assembled at Morganton to see Frances Silver executed. It is claimed that she composed them and gave them out as her confession." Robert Menzies and Edmond Smith had an article, "The Scarlet Enigma of Toe River" in "True Detective Mysteries" in 1935 that included the father's call for silence, but follows it with response by Frankie that "I have...a lot to say". Returning to the Turpin verses that he printed, the first six "correspond with verbal differences" (Brown) to the first six of the Pickens version. The last two verses are different: In that last calm sleep I see him now, The beautiful peace on his handsome brow; Our winsome babe on his heaving breast The crimson blade and the dreamless rest. Now, that I can no longer live Oh, pitying Lord, my crime forgive. When I hear the call of judgment roll May I appear with a bloodwashed soul! rich r |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: katlaughing Date: 06 Apr 03 - 06:21 PM THAT is why I love McCrumb's books AND why I love Mudcat!! Thank you, everyone, for all of your postings!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Stewie Date: 06 Apr 03 - 06:41 PM The earliest old-time recording of it, by Byrd Moore & His Hot Shots in Oct 1929 and issued in May 1930, has been reissued on CD on Clarence 'Tom' Ashley 'Greenback Dollar' County CO-CD-3520. The Hot Shots were Clarence Ashley and Clarence Greene. As mentioned above, Ashley and Foster recorded it later - Sept 1933, issued June 1934. Byrd Moore and Clarence Greene recorded 'Frankie Silvers' Confession' for Gennett in Feb 1930, but this was unissued. [Discographical info from Meade et alia 'Country Music Sources']. --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 07:31 PM Sharyn McCrumb appended these words to the Ballad posted by Dicho from her book. "A rumor was prevalent in Burke County that Silver wrote some verses which were tantamount to a confession of her guilt and read them while on the scaffold to the surrounding throng just before she was executed. "The mind of Squire Waits A. Cook, a highly respected justice of the peace in the Enola section, was a veritable storehouse of legends and events of Burke County's earlier days. He told me that the verses Frankie had allegedly written were composed by a Methodist minister whose surname was Stacy. "Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr., in 'Burke County Courthouses and Related Matters'." McCrumb does not mention Brown's Folk Lore of North Carolina. Randolph mentions "Henry (JAFL 45, 1932, pp. 63-65) reports a long text of "Frankie Silvers" from the Appalachians and apparently regards it as a comparatively recent song, and remarking that Frankie was supposedly hanged in 1908." Was this about someone else or applied to someone else? Was Frankie Silver literate? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 07:44 PM The group "Sweetwater" has performed with Sharyn McCrumb and has recorded "Frankie Silver" from the McCrumb novel and other ballads. Sweetwater |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: raredance Date: 06 Apr 03 - 10:22 PM Returning again to the notes in the Brown text for the following bits of information. "Melinger E. Henry ("Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians", 1934 p48-50)prints a version with a footnote from his informant stating: 'The above occurred about 1908. It is a true story. Mrs. Silvers lived at Morganton.... She composed the above while in prison and sang it just before she was hanged at Morganton." This appears to be the source of the erroneous 1908 date. Brown indicates that the Silvers lived at the mouth of the South Toe River which is abut 30 linear miles from Morganton (much longer by road), so that would suggest another bit of misinformation by Henry's source. According to Brown, the Henry (and the Ervin) text is close to the Pickens text in the number, order and content of the stanzas, but "differs from them in a dozen or more particulars of wording and phrasal order." The Henry and Pickens text shared the wrong judge's name. Brown also mentions the S J Ervin account although from a different source. Ervin, described as an attorney in Lexington wrote "Frankie Silver" which appeared in the Morganton News-Herald in April 1934. Ervin was of the opinion that the gallows reading was an "untrustworth tradition". Ervin also said, "Frankie Silver, it seems, was possessed of a higher degree of education than was common at that day." Brown doesn't say what evidence led to Ervin's opinions, but the latter would make it plausible that she could have penned the verses. That could become circular reasoning if the evidence that she was educated comes from believing she wrote the words. Muriel Sheppard's version (see citation several posts above)is lacking the first two stanzas common to the PIckens, Henry and Ervin texts and apparently also has differences in the order of the stanzas. This is also from Brown Ther is also a versdion with 14 stanzas cited from Davis "Folk Songs of Virginia" Anybody have access to that? rich r |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 11:00 PM The North Carolina Folklore Journal, Vol. 47, # 1, Winter-Spring 2000 (not seen) contains "The Frankie Silver Issue," comprising historical and folkloristic materials dealing with the documentary film, "The Ballad of Frankie Silver." Bobby McMillon, a "traditional artist," constructed the film "from local legend, belief and history." It may add little to solving the mystery of the ballad- who wrote it and when- but should be interesting. Ballad |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 06 Apr 03 - 11:07 PM My link to the Lana Whited website on "Silver Resources" was incorrect: Silver www.ferrum.edu/lwhited/silver.htm |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: katlaughing Date: 06 Apr 03 - 11:53 PM It is interesting to note that some of her descendants have her genealogy and theirs listed at www.ancestry.com. Could be on other sites, too. One of them does make note about her being hanged. I thought it also of interest that Frankie was only 18 years old or thereabouts and that her daughter was only three when Frankie was hanged. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Q Date: 07 Apr 03 - 02:19 PM The Samuel James Ervin (1844-1944) mentioned in posts above was a prominent lawyer in western North Carolina. He was born at Morgantown, a member of a very old American family. Many of his papers are at the Univ. North Carolina. His son, Samuel James Ervin Jr. (1896-1985), was an important and longtime US senator, active on committees including Judiciary, Rackets, and Watergate (a book by him on Watergate). His massive papers, over 40,000 items. are at the Univ. North Carolina. Important to the folk researcher is the collection on Burke County, North Carolina, Social Life and Customs. He wrote several books, of most interest to folk researchers is "Humor of a Country Lawyer." The Ervins family was interested in Genealogy, and traced their antecedents in America from the 17th century (Society of Mayflower Descendents) down through the Sons of th Confereracy. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Helen Date: 01 Jul 03 - 08:20 PM refresh |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: tar_heel Date: 02 Jul 03 - 12:39 AM the pold classic song,"frankie and johnny"is also about frankie silver and the story of how she killed her husband.. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: GUEST,Denise:^), house-sitting Date: 02 Jul 03 - 03:20 AM I'll have to see what I can do about learning this one in a jiffy--it's the current "One Book, One Community" library reading selection, and I've already done one program of Appalachian songs and tunes (singing, autoharp, hammered dulcimer), and I have three more scheduled before the program ends. I'll have to check out the lyrics/music/midi... Denise:^) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF FRANKIE SILVER From: Walking Eagle Date: 02 Jul 03 - 02:00 PM Thanks for posting this again. I'd forgotten about it when I posted my request for the music recently. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: Janie Date: 12 Nov 09 - 04:34 PM Here is a wonderful documentary about the story behind the Ballad of Frankie Silver, as well as a fine rendition of the ballad itself. (Only you have to watch the entire documentary to hear the whole thing sung. The first I ever heard of Frankie Siver was a novel. I'm not sure it was Sharyn McCrumb' book, but probably it was. If so, it was a good read. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: Janie Date: 12 Nov 09 - 05:06 PM The documentary is referenced in at least one of the posts above, but am letting you know it is available for viewing on-line at folkstreams. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: GUEST,Riley Henry Date: 10 Feb 12 - 07:37 AM My wife is a g-g-g-granddaughter of Frankie. We have letters written by Frankie's daughter, Nancy. She has written on the first page the poem that Frankie read at the hanging. It is a very short poem. The rest has been added later to try to make a better story. You all have only heard the Silver side of the story. Coming this summer there will be a book coming out telling the Stuart's side. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: GUEST,Hofguy21 Date: 18 Apr 18 - 10:37 PM She was buried 3 miles from Morganton NC were she hung .body had bad smell guys couldn't go no more distance with .buried her on hill 3 rocks on top each other...the ild man his dad helped bury her...filled wooden box with rocks.took it to Tenn..djfan19992000@yahoo.com. Ray Merrill Glen Alpine NC 3 miles from Morganton NC |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: Lighter Date: 05 Mar 23 - 07:19 PM Nine stzs. hardly different from their equivalents in Sharyn McCumb's version appeared, with the names changed, in the "Inyo Independent" (Independence, Calif.), March 21, 1875, sent in by its "author," E.P. Welch, awaiting execution for murder. The first and last stanzas, attributed to Frankie Silvers in 1833, appeared in the "Morning Star" (Wilmington, N.C.), March 20, 1879. It hardly needs saying that there is not a whit of similarity between this piece and "Frankie and Albert/ Johnny." (Frances Silvers's husband was named "Charles," btw.) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ballad of Frankie Silver From: Lighter Date: 05 Mar 23 - 07:31 PM Also btw, is there any evidence at all that Frances was commonly known as "Frankie"? I haven't seen any, but it's central to the lame argument that the crime was later reflected in "F & J." |
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