Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Southern Soldier (Roud No. 4770) / Sixteen Next Sunday / How Old Are You My Pretty Fair Maid / Seventeen Come Sunday / As I Roved Out (Roud No. 277) / A Pretty Fair Maid / A Lady in Her Father's Garden / The Broken Token (Roud No. 264) - Sung by 92 year old Bertha Hubbard Baird of Rominger, North Carolina. She learned her songs from her father. From the documentary "Buna and Bertha" (1973). Filmed and recorded by Thomas G. Burton and Jack Schrader in 1973.
00:00:00 Bertha Baird introduces herself
00:00:37 Sings "Sixteen Next Sunday" (Roud 277)
00:02:00 Asked to sing "Bo Lamkin" (Child 93)
00:02:17 Sings "Pretty Fair Maid" (Roud 264)
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/buna-and-bertha
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 Thomas G. Burton.
Note by Kevin W.:
Bertha's first song is a conflation of two different songs, The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) and Sixteen Next Sunday (Roud 277).
I wish we could've heard Bertha's version of Bo' Lamkin (Child 93). It was printed in Thomas G. Burton's book "Some Ballad Folks pp.53-54, 103". I don't know if a sound recording of it exists.
Song transcription:
I was born in Alexander County in North Carolina in a little place they call the ... Mill. And the song that I'm supposed to sing now is-- I learned it from my father. He sung it many years ago. I was born in 1880. Is that all you want to know?
[Tom Burton] And your full name?
Yeah, Bertha Hubbard Baird.
I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder.
I'll march away to New Orleans,
And there I'll be a soldier
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me with a modesty,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"Will you marry me, my pretty little miss,
Will you marry me, my honey?"
She answered me with a modesty,
"You'll have to ask my mommy."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder.
I'll march away to New Orleans
And there I'll be a soldier."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
Well, the coffee grows on white oak trees,
And the river flows with brandy.
The streets are lined with ten dollar bills,
And the girls all sweet as candy.
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
That's it.
[Tom Burton] Would you sing Bo Lamkin now?
Oh, no.
[Burton] Sing just a little
It's too long.
[Burton] Just a little bit of it though. Please?
I think "Pretty Fair Maid" would be prettier than that.
[Burton] That's good. All right, go ahead..
Or "One Morning In May," either one.
[Burton] All right, either one.
I don't know whether I can sing either one of them, or not.
Pretty fair maid, all in a garden.
A soldier boy were passing by.
All in these words he did address her,
Saying, "Pretty fair lady, will you marry me?"
"No sir, no sir, I've got a father.
A man of honor you may be.
How can you force a poor young lady
To marry you, your bride to be?
I have a true love on the ocean,
For seven long years been gone away.
And if he's gone seven more years longer,
Not a man on earth can marry me."
"Perhaps your true love has got drownded,
Perhaps he's in some battle slain
Perhaps he's got some girl and married,
Whose face you never again can see.
Perhaps my true love has got drownded,
Perhaps he's in some battle slain.
And if he stole some girl and married,
I'll love the girl that married him."
He ran his hands all in his pocket.
His fingers they were neat and strong.
Saying, "Here's the ring I keep out on there."
Straight down before him she did fall.
He picked her up, all in his arms, Kisses gave her one, two, three.
Saying, "If I'd stayed seven more years longer, Not a girl on earth could have married me.
The Southern Soldier (Roud No. 4770) / Sixteen Next Sunday / How Old Are You My Pretty Fair Maid / Seventeen Come Sunday / As I Roved Out (Roud No. 277) / A Pretty Fair Maid / A Lady in Her Father's Garden / The Broken Token (Roud No. 264) - Sung by 92 year old Bertha Hubbard Baird of Rominger, North Carolina. She learned her songs from her father. From the documentary "Buna and Bertha" (1973). Filmed and recorded by Thomas G. Burton and Jack Schrader in 1973.
00:00:00 Bertha Baird introduces herself
00:00:37 Sings "Sixteen Next Sunday" (Roud 277)
00:02:00 Asked to sing "Bo Lamkin" (Child 93)
00:02:17 Sings "Pretty Fair Maid" (Roud 264)
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/buna-and-bertha
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 Thomas G. Burton.
Note by Kevin W.:
Bertha's first song is a conflation of two different songs, The Southern Soldier (Roud 4770) and Sixteen Next Sunday (Roud 277).
I wish we could've heard Bertha's version of Bo' Lamkin (Child 93). It was printed in Thomas G. Burton's book "Some Ballad Folks pp.53-54, 103". I don't know if a sound recording of it exists.
Song transcription:
I was born in Alexander County in North Carolina in a little place they call the ... Mill. And the song that I'm supposed to sing now is-- I learned it from my father. He sung it many years ago. I was born in 1880. Is that all you want to know?
[Tom Burton] And your full name?
Yeah, Bertha Hubbard Baird.
I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder.
I'll march away to New Orleans,
And there I'll be a soldier
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me with a modesty,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"Will you marry me, my pretty little miss,
Will you marry me, my honey?"
She answered me with a modesty,
"You'll have to ask my mommy."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
"I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder.
I'll march away to New Orleans
And there I'll be a soldier."
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
Well, the coffee grows on white oak trees,
And the river flows with brandy.
The streets are lined with ten dollar bills,
And the girls all sweet as candy.
Fa-dle lik-kle doo, doo-dle-doo
And a fa-dle lik-kle doo-dle di dee.
That's it.
[Tom Burton] Would you sing Bo Lamkin now?
Oh, no.
[Burton] Sing just a little
It's too long.
[Burton] Just a little bit of it though. Please?
I think "Pretty Fair Maid" would be prettier than that.
[Burton] That's good. All right, go ahead..
Or "One Morning In May," either one.
[Burton] All right, either one.
I don't know whether I can sing either one of them, or not.
Pretty fair maid, all in a garden.
A soldier boy were passing by.
All in these words he did address her,
Saying, "Pretty fair lady, will you marry me?"
"No sir, no sir, I've got a father.
A man of honor you may be.
How can you force a poor young lady
To marry you, your bride to be?
I have a true love on the ocean,
For seven long years been gone away.
And if he's gone seven more years longer,
Not a man on earth can marry me."
"Perhaps your true love has got drownded,
Perhaps he's in some battle slain
Perhaps he's got some girl and married,
Whose face you never again can see.
Perhaps my true love has got drownded,
Perhaps he's in some battle slain.
And if he stole some girl and married,
I'll love the girl that married him."
He ran his hands all in his pocket.
His fingers they were neat and strong.
Saying, "Here's the ring I keep out on there."
Straight down before him she did fall.
He picked her up, all in his arms, Kisses gave her one, two, three.
Saying, "If I'd stayed seven more years longer, Not a girl on earth could have married me.
