Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Georgie / Young George Oxbury / George Stoole / George of Oxford / The Hanging of Georgie / As I Walked Over London Bridge / Geordie (Child No. 209) - Sung by Mr. Samuel F. "Sam" Russell (1860–1946) of Marion, Smyth County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 15, 1932. Recorded again by Davis and Sidney Robertson Cowell on November 13, 1936.
00:00:00 As I Walked Over London's Bridge (1932) - S. F. Russell
00:04:13 As I Walked Over London's Bridge (1936) - S. F. Russell
00:08:02 Geordie - Jean Ritchie
00:12:50 Georgie - Nancy Weaver Stikeleather
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of The Hanging of Georgie (Child 209 Appendix). Most American texts of this ballad appear to go back to an English broadside printed in London in 1683 titled "The Life and Death of George of Oxford". It tells the story of the robber George Stoole, alias Skelton, alias Stowell, of Northumberland, who was executed at Newcastle in 1610 for stealing horses and cattle.
Sam Russell's version is sung to a beautiful and widespread ballad tune. I've also heard it used for Barbara Allen (Child 84), The Trooper and the Maid (Child 299), Little Mattie Groves (Child 81), The Gypsy Davy (Child 200) and The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) by Appalachian mountain singers.
There is a Scottish ballad usually known as Geordie (Child 209) that tells a similar but more complex story in which Geordie is to be executed and his lady rides to the court in Edinburgh to beg a pardon from the king. Unlike the English ballad it has a happy ending. Enough money is raised to please the king, Geordie is pardoned and the couple reunited. In the Scottish ballad Geordie was captured in battle and he is no horse thief or poacher. It's possible the ballad refers to the trial of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (circa 1554).
I know of only one sound recording of the Scottish ballad from America. It was recorded from Mrs. Nancy Weaver Stikeleather of Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, by Robert Winslow Gordon on November 11, 1925. It has a distinct tune, very different from Sam Russell's. The text is brief but preserves the happy ending.
Song transcription:
As I walked over London's bridge
So early in the morning.
I overheard some fair one say
"Lord, spare me the life of Georgie."
I overheard some fair one say
"Lord, spare me the life of Georgie."
"Go bridle and saddle my milk-white steed
Go saddle and bridle him neatly.
I'll ride away to the lone castle fair,
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
I'll ride away to the lone castle fair
A-pleading for the life of Georgie."
She rode all day and she rode all night
Till she came wet and weary
A-combing back her long yellow locks
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
A-combing back her long yellow locks
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
And out of her pocket drew a purse of gold,
The like I never saw any,
Saying, "Lawyers, Lawyers come fee yourselves
And spare me the life of Georgie."
Saying, "Lawyers, Lawyers come fee yourselves
And spare me the life of Georgie."
George he was a-standing by,
Saying, "I never killed anybody,
But I stole sixteen of the King's white steeds
And sold them in Goannie.
But I stole sixteen of the King's white steeds
And sold them in Goannie."
The oldest lawyer at the bar,
Saying, "George, I'm sorry for you,
That your own confession has condemned you to die
May the Lord have mercy on you.
That your own confession has condemned you to die
May the Lord have mercy on you."
As George was walking up through the streets,
He bid farewell to many,
He bid farewell to his own true love
Which grieved him worse than any.
He bid farewell to his own true love
Which grieved him worse than any.
George was hung with a golden chain
The like I never saw any
Because he came of a royal race
And courted a virtuous lady.
Because he came of a royal race
And courted a virtuous lady.
I wish I was on yonder's hill,
Where kisses I've had many,
My sword and pistol all on my side
I'd fight for the life of Georgie.
(No repetition of the last two lines in the final stanza.)
Georgie / Young George Oxbury / George Stoole / George of Oxford / The Hanging of Georgie / As I Walked Over London Bridge / Geordie (Child No. 209) - Sung by Mr. Samuel F. "Sam" Russell (1860–1946) of Marion, Smyth County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on August 15, 1932. Recorded again by Davis and Sidney Robertson Cowell on November 13, 1936.
00:00:00 As I Walked Over London's Bridge (1932) - S. F. Russell
00:04:13 As I Walked Over London's Bridge (1936) - S. F. Russell
00:08:02 Geordie - Jean Ritchie
00:12:50 Georgie - Nancy Weaver Stikeleather
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional Virginia version of The Hanging of Georgie (Child 209 Appendix). Most American texts of this ballad appear to go back to an English broadside printed in London in 1683 titled "The Life and Death of George of Oxford". It tells the story of the robber George Stoole, alias Skelton, alias Stowell, of Northumberland, who was executed at Newcastle in 1610 for stealing horses and cattle.
Sam Russell's version is sung to a beautiful and widespread ballad tune. I've also heard it used for Barbara Allen (Child 84), The Trooper and the Maid (Child 299), Little Mattie Groves (Child 81), The Gypsy Davy (Child 200) and The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) by Appalachian mountain singers.
There is a Scottish ballad usually known as Geordie (Child 209) that tells a similar but more complex story in which Geordie is to be executed and his lady rides to the court in Edinburgh to beg a pardon from the king. Unlike the English ballad it has a happy ending. Enough money is raised to please the king, Geordie is pardoned and the couple reunited. In the Scottish ballad Geordie was captured in battle and he is no horse thief or poacher. It's possible the ballad refers to the trial of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (circa 1554).
I know of only one sound recording of the Scottish ballad from America. It was recorded from Mrs. Nancy Weaver Stikeleather of Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, by Robert Winslow Gordon on November 11, 1925. It has a distinct tune, very different from Sam Russell's. The text is brief but preserves the happy ending.
Song transcription:
As I walked over London's bridge
So early in the morning.
I overheard some fair one say
"Lord, spare me the life of Georgie."
I overheard some fair one say
"Lord, spare me the life of Georgie."
"Go bridle and saddle my milk-white steed
Go saddle and bridle him neatly.
I'll ride away to the lone castle fair,
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
I'll ride away to the lone castle fair
A-pleading for the life of Georgie."
She rode all day and she rode all night
Till she came wet and weary
A-combing back her long yellow locks
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
A-combing back her long yellow locks
A-pleading for the life of Georgie.
And out of her pocket drew a purse of gold,
The like I never saw any,
Saying, "Lawyers, Lawyers come fee yourselves
And spare me the life of Georgie."
Saying, "Lawyers, Lawyers come fee yourselves
And spare me the life of Georgie."
George he was a-standing by,
Saying, "I never killed anybody,
But I stole sixteen of the King's white steeds
And sold them in Goannie.
But I stole sixteen of the King's white steeds
And sold them in Goannie."
The oldest lawyer at the bar,
Saying, "George, I'm sorry for you,
That your own confession has condemned you to die
May the Lord have mercy on you.
That your own confession has condemned you to die
May the Lord have mercy on you."
As George was walking up through the streets,
He bid farewell to many,
He bid farewell to his own true love
Which grieved him worse than any.
He bid farewell to his own true love
Which grieved him worse than any.
George was hung with a golden chain
The like I never saw any
Because he came of a royal race
And courted a virtuous lady.
Because he came of a royal race
And courted a virtuous lady.
I wish I was on yonder's hill,
Where kisses I've had many,
My sword and pistol all on my side
I'd fight for the life of Georgie.
(No repetition of the last two lines in the final stanza.)
