Name: Poor Ellen Smith
Duration: P00H02M48S
Description: For an in-depth discussion of this track, see the album notes: tinyurl[dot]com/V5NATnotes

Annadeene Fraley, vocal & guitar; J.P. Fraley, fiddle; Doug Chaffin, bass - Poor Ellen Smith

from Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 5: Grown on American Soil by Field Recorders' Collective

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For an in-depth discussion of this track, see the album notes: tinyurl[dot]com/V5NATnotes

lyrics

Poor Ellen Smith, how she was found,
Shot through the heart, lying cold on the ground.

Her clothes were all scattered and thrown all around,
Her blood marked the spot where poor Ellen was found.

They picked up their rifles and hunted me down.
They found me a-loafing in Mt. Airy town.

They picked up her body and carried it away,
And now she lies sleeping in some lonesome old grave.

I got a letter yesterday, I read it today
The flowers on her grave have all faded away.

Some day I'll go home and stay when I go
On poor Ellen's grave, pretty flowers I'll sow.

I've been in this prison for twenty long years.
Each night I see Ellen through my bitter tears.

The warden just told me that soon I'll be free
To go to her graveside 'neath that old willow tree.

My days in this prison are ending at last,
I'll never be free from my sins of the past.

Poor Ellen Smith, how she was found
Shot through the heart, lying cold on the ground.

credits

from Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 5: Grown on American Soil, released August 7, 2023
Recorded by Mark Wilson, Denton, KY, 12/95.

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Field Recorders' Collective

The Field Recorders’ Collective is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music, material that is unavailable to the general public.

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