Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Johnny Collins / George Collins / Young Collins / Giles Collins / Lady Alice (Child No. 85) Clerk Colven / Clerk Colvill (Child No. 42) - Sung by Jean Ruth Ritchie (1922–2015) of Viper, Perry County, Kentucky, USA. Recorded at a folk concert at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky in 1974. She learned the song in Loyall, Harlan County, Kentucky, from an old man, Mr. A. L. Grennels (or Grinnels, possibly Arthur Leonard Grinnell?), in 1968 or 1969, and he in turn learned it from his father. Mr. Grennels passed away between 1972 and 1974. Jean Ritchie also recorded Johnny Collins on "Clear Waters Remembered" (1971) Sire – SES 97014.
The only time Johnny Collins was found in Kentucky. The riverside encounter with the strange woman (or Fair Ellen) is missing and the burial request at the foot of Fair Ellen's green hill was moved to the very end, where it seems more sensible in this fragment. Maud Karpeles' text, which she collected from Mrs. Mary Tibbs of Trinity, Newfoundland, on September 13, 1929, shows the same peculiarity. On this occasion Jean only sang two verses as an example in a discussion of song variants.
Jean Ritchie also had a version of "George Collins rode home one cold winter's night" in her repertoire which she'd learned from an 11 year old girl named Margo Coffey after a concert in Clarksburg, Kentucky, in 1970. Jean sang Johnny Collins at the concert and Margo came up to her afterwards and said I know that song, same story, but it's all different, and she sang George Collins for her. Amusingly Margo thought that Jean "had gotten it all wrong" and that her own version was the correct way of singing it. It's a fine example of the folk process at work.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the film 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 Berea College and the original creators of the material.
Note by Kevin W.:
Here's an interesting article on the ballad written by Sam Bayard: bluegrassmessengers.com/the-johnny-collins-version-of-lady-alice--bayard-.aspx
Song transcription:
Fair Ellen she sits in her own cottage door,
Dressed up in her laces so fine,
'Twas there she spied a coffin a-coming,
As rise as her eyes did shine.
Whose coffin, whose coffin, whose coffin, said she
Whose coffin so neat and so fine;
'Tis young Johnny Collins' clay cold corpse,
An old true lover of thine.
She's ordered the coffin be opened right there,
As it landed on Dublin shore,
She may take the last kiss from his clay cold lips,
So often she's kissed him before.
She's trimmed it up, she's trimmed it down,
She's trimmed it with laces so fine,
Today they shall hang o'er young Collins' grave,
Tomorrow shall hang over mine.
Then she's took down her long yellow hair,
All over her pillow it spread,
I'll eat no more, I'll drink now more,
Since my Johnny Collins is dead.
The news went round through Dublin town,
You could see it on Dublin's gate;
Six pretty fair maidens they died last night,
It's all for young Collins' sake.
And if I should die this very night,
As I feel in my mind that I will,
Go bury me under the white marble stones,
At the foot of Fair Ellen's green hill.
Johnny Collins / George Collins / Young Collins / Giles Collins / Lady Alice (Child No. 85) Clerk Colven / Clerk Colvill (Child No. 42) - Sung by Jean Ruth Ritchie (1922–2015) of Viper, Perry County, Kentucky, USA. Recorded at a folk concert at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky in 1974. She learned the song in Loyall, Harlan County, Kentucky, from an old man, Mr. A. L. Grennels (or Grinnels, possibly Arthur Leonard Grinnell?), in 1968 or 1969, and he in turn learned it from his father. Mr. Grennels passed away between 1972 and 1974. Jean Ritchie also recorded Johnny Collins on "Clear Waters Remembered" (1971) Sire – SES 97014.
The only time Johnny Collins was found in Kentucky. The riverside encounter with the strange woman (or Fair Ellen) is missing and the burial request at the foot of Fair Ellen's green hill was moved to the very end, where it seems more sensible in this fragment. Maud Karpeles' text, which she collected from Mrs. Mary Tibbs of Trinity, Newfoundland, on September 13, 1929, shows the same peculiarity. On this occasion Jean only sang two verses as an example in a discussion of song variants.
Jean Ritchie also had a version of "George Collins rode home one cold winter's night" in her repertoire which she'd learned from an 11 year old girl named Margo Coffey after a concert in Clarksburg, Kentucky, in 1970. Jean sang Johnny Collins at the concert and Margo came up to her afterwards and said I know that song, same story, but it's all different, and she sang George Collins for her. Amusingly Margo thought that Jean "had gotten it all wrong" and that her own version was the correct way of singing it. It's a fine example of the folk process at work.
I used my knowledge on video editing to share the film 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 Berea College and the original creators of the material.
Note by Kevin W.:
Here's an interesting article on the ballad written by Sam Bayard: bluegrassmessengers.com/the-johnny-collins-version-of-lady-alice--bayard-.aspx
Song transcription:
Fair Ellen she sits in her own cottage door,
Dressed up in her laces so fine,
'Twas there she spied a coffin a-coming,
As rise as her eyes did shine.
Whose coffin, whose coffin, whose coffin, said she
Whose coffin so neat and so fine;
'Tis young Johnny Collins' clay cold corpse,
An old true lover of thine.
She's ordered the coffin be opened right there,
As it landed on Dublin shore,
She may take the last kiss from his clay cold lips,
So often she's kissed him before.
She's trimmed it up, she's trimmed it down,
She's trimmed it with laces so fine,
Today they shall hang o'er young Collins' grave,
Tomorrow shall hang over mine.
Then she's took down her long yellow hair,
All over her pillow it spread,
I'll eat no more, I'll drink now more,
Since my Johnny Collins is dead.
The news went round through Dublin town,
You could see it on Dublin's gate;
Six pretty fair maidens they died last night,
It's all for young Collins' sake.
And if I should die this very night,
As I feel in my mind that I will,
Go bury me under the white marble stones,
At the foot of Fair Ellen's green hill.
