“Manley Pankey”

Description

"Here I stand in the jail house door, Here I'll stand no more. Goodbye to my mother And friends forevermore. My mother she did warn me, She warned me when I 'as young, 'I'll raise you up for the gallows; My son, you will be hung.'"

Supplemental text

Manley Pankey
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

From the Frank C. Brown collection, Volume II, #292, p. 677.
From Jewel Robbins, Montgomery County, North Carolina, c. 1923.

1 Here I stand in the jail house door,
  Here I'll stand no more.
  Goodbye to my mother
  And friends forevermore.

2 My mother she did warn me,
  She warned me when I 'as young,
  "I'll raise you up for the gallows;
  My son, you will be hung."

Notes

According to the notes in Brown, Pankey was a laborer and musician who murdered his employer, a farmer named Curry. As usual, the song is described as sung by the condemned man before his execution. However, the editors can provide no precise dates or real details, and the song is a scrap with no circumstantial details at all. - RBW

References

1. BrownII 292, "Manley Pankey" (1 text)
2. ST BrII292 (Full)
3. Roud #6636
4. BI, BrII292