Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Fair Flowers of Fadie-O / Fair Flowers of Holly-O / Fine Flowers in the Valley / Doon By the Greenwood Sidie O / Greenwood Side / Down by the Greenwood Sidey-o / All Alone and a-Lonely-O / She's Leaned her Back / The Cruel Mither / The Cruel Mother (Child No. 20) - Sung by Mrs. Catherine "Kate" Bell Toney (1874–1944) in Kitchen, Logan County, West Virginia, USA. She was born in Wayne County. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 9, 1940.
Mrs. Toney was Prof. Chappell's most prolific traditional singer. On that one day in August he recorded seventy-nine of her songs. An article on her can be found here: https://omekas.lib.wvu.edu/home/s/folkmusic/page/kate-toney
00:00:00 Pretty Babes - Kate Toney
00:03:40 Fair Flowers of Fadie-O - Charles S. Brink
00:04:23 Little Babes - Rhoda Browning Nelson
00:05:00 Little Babes - Sarah Workman
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional West Virginia version of The Cruel Mother (Child 20). The ballad is rare in America and texts are often fragmentary. It must've arrived in Virginia with the early settlers in the 1600s-1700s and was kept alive through generations of singers without the aid of printed texts. As far as I can tell the song was never published in songsters or broadsides in America, likely due to the dark subject matter.
An important detail lost in many American texts and likely not understood by the singers is that the mother kills her babies out of fear of being discovered by her family. She had an illegitimate relationship with her father's clerk, a man below her standing.
Three of the W. Virginia texts recorded by Louis W. Chappell include a variation on the following stanza:
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Which preserves an old superstition that the blood from a murderer's weapon can't be washed off. This stanza is seldom found in traditional versions collected in the 20th century.
The "flowers in the valley" refrain originated in Scotland and has become rare, it survived mostly with northern US and Canadian texts, often displaying varying degrees of corruption.
Song transcription:
An evidently ancient text. Not entirely complete, but preserving beautiful rhymes and the rare "she wiped her penknife" stanza. It's sung to a fine and widespread ballad tune.
First she leaned against an oak
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
First it bent and then it broke
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
First it bent and then it broke
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Next she leaned against a thorn
There them two pretty babes are born
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
(corrects herself)
She had a penknife keen and sharp
She pierced them two pretty babes to the heart
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
She dropped her penknife in the well
She wished them two pretty babes in hell
She dug a grave both wide and deep
She buried them both without a sheet
The very next day she's going to church
There her two pretty babes appeared
Said, pretty babes if you were mine
(record skips)
I'd dress you in the silk so fine
Mother dear we once was yourn
(record skips)
You neither dressed us coarse nor fine
The very next day she's going to church
There them two pretty babes appeared
The first six months you'll ring a bell
The next six months you'll ring in hell
Charles S. Brink:
If those two little babes were mine,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
I'd dress them up in silk so fine,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O.
When us two little babes were thine,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
You neither dressed nor clothed us fine,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O.
But with your penknife keen and sharp,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
You pierced us two babes to the heart,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O!
Rhoda Browning Nelson:
Oh little babes if you were mine
Fine flowers of fandy-o
I would dress you up in silk so fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
Oh mother dear we once was yours
Fine flowers of fandy-o
You'd neither give us coarse nor fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
You'd neither give us coarse nor fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
Sarah Workman:
Oh little babes if you were mine
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
I'd dress you in silk and satin so fine
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Oh mother we were once yourn
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
You neither dressed us in coarse nor fine
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
She had a penknife keen and sharp
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
She pressed it through those little babe's hearts
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
She dropped her penknife in the well
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
She wished those two little babes in hell
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Fair Flowers of Fadie-O / Fair Flowers of Holly-O / Fine Flowers in the Valley / Doon By the Greenwood Sidie O / Greenwood Side / Down by the Greenwood Sidey-o / All Alone and a-Lonely-O / She's Leaned her Back / The Cruel Mither / The Cruel Mother (Child No. 20) - Sung by Mrs. Catherine "Kate" Bell Toney (1874–1944) in Kitchen, Logan County, West Virginia, USA. She was born in Wayne County. Recorded by Prof. Louis Watson Chappell on August 9, 1940.
Mrs. Toney was Prof. Chappell's most prolific traditional singer. On that one day in August he recorded seventy-nine of her songs. An article on her can be found here: https://omekas.lib.wvu.edu/home/s/folkmusic/page/kate-toney
00:00:00 Pretty Babes - Kate Toney
00:03:40 Fair Flowers of Fadie-O - Charles S. Brink
00:04:23 Little Babes - Rhoda Browning Nelson
00:05:00 Little Babes - Sarah Workman
Note by Kevin W.:
A traditional West Virginia version of The Cruel Mother (Child 20). The ballad is rare in America and texts are often fragmentary. It must've arrived in Virginia with the early settlers in the 1600s-1700s and was kept alive through generations of singers without the aid of printed texts. As far as I can tell the song was never published in songsters or broadsides in America, likely due to the dark subject matter.
An important detail lost in many American texts and likely not understood by the singers is that the mother kills her babies out of fear of being discovered by her family. She had an illegitimate relationship with her father's clerk, a man below her standing.
Three of the W. Virginia texts recorded by Louis W. Chappell include a variation on the following stanza:
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Which preserves an old superstition that the blood from a murderer's weapon can't be washed off. This stanza is seldom found in traditional versions collected in the 20th century.
The "flowers in the valley" refrain originated in Scotland and has become rare, it survived mostly with northern US and Canadian texts, often displaying varying degrees of corruption.
Song transcription:
An evidently ancient text. Not entirely complete, but preserving beautiful rhymes and the rare "she wiped her penknife" stanza. It's sung to a fine and widespread ballad tune.
First she leaned against an oak
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
First it bent and then it broke
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
First it bent and then it broke
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Next she leaned against a thorn
There them two pretty babes are born
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
(corrects herself)
She had a penknife keen and sharp
She pierced them two pretty babes to the heart
She wiped her penknife on her shoe
The more she wiped the bloodier it grew
She dropped her penknife in the well
She wished them two pretty babes in hell
She dug a grave both wide and deep
She buried them both without a sheet
The very next day she's going to church
There her two pretty babes appeared
Said, pretty babes if you were mine
(record skips)
I'd dress you in the silk so fine
Mother dear we once was yourn
(record skips)
You neither dressed us coarse nor fine
The very next day she's going to church
There them two pretty babes appeared
The first six months you'll ring a bell
The next six months you'll ring in hell
Charles S. Brink:
If those two little babes were mine,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
I'd dress them up in silk so fine,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O.
When us two little babes were thine,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
You neither dressed nor clothed us fine,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O.
But with your penknife keen and sharp,
Fair the flowers of Fadie-O,
You pierced us two babes to the heart,
Down by the Greenwood Sidey-O!
Rhoda Browning Nelson:
Oh little babes if you were mine
Fine flowers of fandy-o
I would dress you up in silk so fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
Oh mother dear we once was yours
Fine flowers of fandy-o
You'd neither give us coarse nor fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
You'd neither give us coarse nor fine
Down by the greenwood sidie-o
Sarah Workman:
Oh little babes if you were mine
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
I'd dress you in silk and satin so fine
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
Oh mother we were once yourn
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
You neither dressed us in coarse nor fine
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
She had a penknife keen and sharp
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
She pressed it through those little babe's hearts
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
She dropped her penknife in the well
Fine flowers of fin-die-o
She wished those two little babes in hell
Down, down by the greenwood sidie-o
