Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Soldier Traveling From the North / The Soldier Boy / The Bold Dragoon / The Trooper Lad / The Trooper and the Maid (Child No. 299) - Sung by Dillard Chandler of Big Laurel, 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.:
This is an old English ballad, but sung in the style of the mountain people of North Carolina. Dillard Chandler could neither read nor write but he knew hundreds of songs, some of them very old. They were brought over from England, Scotland and Ireland with the early settlers and lived on in the memory of the mountain singers.
The tune Dillard Chandler uses is a popular ballad tune, I've also heard it used for Barbara Allen (Child 84), The Hanging of Georgie (Child 209), The Gypsy Davy (Child 200), Little Mattie Groves (Child 81) and The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) by Appalachian mountain singers.
"The Trooper and the Maid" (Child 299) isn't a widely known song in America, although it has been recorded several times in North Carolina and in West Virginia where it seemed to have had the most circulation.
Song transcription:
Well I just sing like I always sung. It's just an “old timey love song,” is what everybody called it a way back.
A soldier traveling from the North
As the moon shine bright and clearly.
The lady knew the gentleman's heart,
Because she loved him dearly.
She took his horse by the bridle rein
And led him to the stable.
“I've hay and oats for your horse, my love
Go feed him, you are able.”
She took him by the lily-white hand
And led him to the table.
“The cake and wine’s for you, my love.
Go eat and drink your welcome.”
She pulled off her blue silk gown,
And laid it on the table.
He pulled off his uniform suit,
And he hopped in the bed with the lady.
"I heard some trumpets sound th'alarm.
Must go and meet it."
"O soldier dear, don't leave me here,
For I am ruined forever."
"When silver bells and conchs shall stand
's when you and I shall marry."
"O, soldier dear, don't leave me here,
For I am ruined forever."
The Soldier Traveling From the North / The Soldier Boy / The Bold Dragoon / The Trooper Lad / The Trooper and the Maid (Child No. 299) - Sung by Dillard Chandler of Big Laurel, 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.:
This is an old English ballad, but sung in the style of the mountain people of North Carolina. Dillard Chandler could neither read nor write but he knew hundreds of songs, some of them very old. They were brought over from England, Scotland and Ireland with the early settlers and lived on in the memory of the mountain singers.
The tune Dillard Chandler uses is a popular ballad tune, I've also heard it used for Barbara Allen (Child 84), The Hanging of Georgie (Child 209), The Gypsy Davy (Child 200), Little Mattie Groves (Child 81) and The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) by Appalachian mountain singers.
"The Trooper and the Maid" (Child 299) isn't a widely known song in America, although it has been recorded several times in North Carolina and in West Virginia where it seemed to have had the most circulation.
Song transcription:
Well I just sing like I always sung. It's just an “old timey love song,” is what everybody called it a way back.
A soldier traveling from the North
As the moon shine bright and clearly.
The lady knew the gentleman's heart,
Because she loved him dearly.
She took his horse by the bridle rein
And led him to the stable.
“I've hay and oats for your horse, my love
Go feed him, you are able.”
She took him by the lily-white hand
And led him to the table.
“The cake and wine’s for you, my love.
Go eat and drink your welcome.”
She pulled off her blue silk gown,
And laid it on the table.
He pulled off his uniform suit,
And he hopped in the bed with the lady.
"I heard some trumpets sound th'alarm.
Must go and meet it."
"O soldier dear, don't leave me here,
For I am ruined forever."
"When silver bells and conchs shall stand
's when you and I shall marry."
"O, soldier dear, don't leave me here,
For I am ruined forever."
