Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
A Conversation with Death / O Death (Roud No. 4933) - Sung by Berzil (Berzilla) Wallin of Sodom Laurel, Madison County, North Carolina. From the documentary "The End of an Old Song" (1969) about the ballad singer Dillard Chandler and the mountain people of North Carolina. Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in 1967.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/end-of-an-old-song
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note by Kevin. W.:
According to a 2004 Journal of Folklore Research article by folklorist Carl Lindahl "A Conversation with Death" was written in 1916 by musician and Baptist preacher Lloyd Chandler (1896-1978), a cousin of Dillard Chandler's. However an earlier text under the title "O Death" had been collected from African American singers in Eastern North Carolina by W.O. Scroggs in 1908. Lloyd Chandler must've adapted an already existing folk piece for his song. It would explain why the lyrics and tune differ between the Chandler family version and seemingly independent versions recorded from other traditional singers like Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs from Wise County, Virginia and Nimrod Workman from Mingo County, West Virginia which are closer to the text from 1908.
The lyrics of the 1908 version are as follows:
Sinner, I come to you by Hebbin's decree;
This very night you must go wid me.
O-o death! O-o death!
How kin I go wid you?
"Jes' like a flower in its bloom,
Why should you cut me down so soon?
O-o death! O-o death!
How kin I go wid you?
It's thematically similar to an English folk song, "Death and the Lady" (Roud 1031), but that's probably a coincidence as it's such a common theme.
This has to be one of the most pessimistic folk songs I've ever listened to. But really you have to see it as a moral warning, to rethink your ways and be a kind person in your life.
Song transcription:
"Oh, what is this, I cannot see,
With icy hands take hold on me?"
"Oh, I am Death--none can excel.
I open the door of heaven and hell.
Yes, I come for to get your soul.
Leave your [body] and leave it cold,
To drop the flesh from off of your frame.
The earth and worms both have their claim."
"Now Death, O Death, please give me time
To fix my heart and change my mind."
"Your heart is fixed, your doom is bound.
I have these shackles to drag you down.”
"Too late, too late, to all farewell.
My heart is fixed. I'm summonsed to hell.
As long as God in heaven shall dwell
My soul, my soul shall scream in hell."
A Conversation with Death / O Death (Roud No. 4933) - Sung by Berzil (Berzilla) Wallin of Sodom Laurel, Madison County, North Carolina. From the documentary "The End of an Old Song" (1969) about the ballad singer Dillard Chandler and the mountain people of North Carolina. Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in 1967.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/end-of-an-old-song
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note by Kevin. W.:
According to a 2004 Journal of Folklore Research article by folklorist Carl Lindahl "A Conversation with Death" was written in 1916 by musician and Baptist preacher Lloyd Chandler (1896-1978), a cousin of Dillard Chandler's. However an earlier text under the title "O Death" had been collected from African American singers in Eastern North Carolina by W.O. Scroggs in 1908. Lloyd Chandler must've adapted an already existing folk piece for his song. It would explain why the lyrics and tune differ between the Chandler family version and seemingly independent versions recorded from other traditional singers like Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs from Wise County, Virginia and Nimrod Workman from Mingo County, West Virginia which are closer to the text from 1908.
The lyrics of the 1908 version are as follows:
Sinner, I come to you by Hebbin's decree;
This very night you must go wid me.
O-o death! O-o death!
How kin I go wid you?
"Jes' like a flower in its bloom,
Why should you cut me down so soon?
O-o death! O-o death!
How kin I go wid you?
It's thematically similar to an English folk song, "Death and the Lady" (Roud 1031), but that's probably a coincidence as it's such a common theme.
This has to be one of the most pessimistic folk songs I've ever listened to. But really you have to see it as a moral warning, to rethink your ways and be a kind person in your life.
Song transcription:
"Oh, what is this, I cannot see,
With icy hands take hold on me?"
"Oh, I am Death--none can excel.
I open the door of heaven and hell.
Yes, I come for to get your soul.
Leave your [body] and leave it cold,
To drop the flesh from off of your frame.
The earth and worms both have their claim."
"Now Death, O Death, please give me time
To fix my heart and change my mind."
"Your heart is fixed, your doom is bound.
I have these shackles to drag you down.”
"Too late, too late, to all farewell.
My heart is fixed. I'm summonsed to hell.
As long as God in heaven shall dwell
My soul, my soul shall scream in hell."
