Ritchie family When
Cecil Sharp visited the
Ritchie family of
Viper,
Kentucky in 1917 on his journey to collect traditional songs, he was excited to hear their version of the ballad (which they called "The Little Devils"), because it included a whistled refrain that Sharp had read about having once existed in Britain.
Jean Ritchie recalled the tale of her sisters Una and Sabrina learning the lyrics of the song from their uncle Jason in order to sing it to Cecil Sharp, whose transcription of their performance can be viewed via the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
Alan Lomax recorded
Jean Ritchie singing the song in 1949, and the recording is freely available online courtesy of the Alan Lomax archive. She then recorded the song in 1952 on her album
Singing the Traditional Songs of Her Kentucky Mountain Family. The Ritchie family version ends with the humorous verse:
Oh the women they are so much better than men, When they go to hell they get sent back again. United States Other versions were collected in the United States. The
Appalachian musicians
Nimrod Workman,
Horton Barker,
Texas Gladden and
Aunt Molly Jackson all recorded their own traditional versions of the song around the middle of the twentieth century. Elsewhere in the US,
James "Iron Head" Baker and
Ollie Gilbert had their versions recorded. Texas Gladden's 1932 recording can be heard online via the
University of Virginia Library website.
Britain A recording made by
James Madison Carpenter of a male singer in
Bampton,
Oxfordshire in the 1930s can be heard on the
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Jimmy White of
Whittingham,
Northumberland was recorded singing the ballad in 1954, as was Alan Rogerson of nearby
Wooler,
Northumberland in 1958.
Walter Pardon of
Norfolk also recorded his traditional version. English versions such as that of
George "Pop" Maynard which can be heard on the
British Library Sound Archive website, include the whistling refrain that Cecil Sharp thought had been lost in Britain, albeit a different tune to the Ritchie version. It has also been recorded by a handful of Scottish singers.
Ireland Seamus Ennis recorded an acclaimed version in his 1957 album The Bonny Bunch of Roses. Another acclaimed version of the song is by
Thomas Moran == Lyrics ==