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Down in the Willow Garden

from Am I Born to Die? by The Ghosts of Johnson City

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‘Down in the Willow Garden’ is a traditional American murder ballad popularized in Appalachia and thought to have originated in Ireland (where an early version appeared in Coleraine in 1811 under the name ‘Rose Connelly’). One theory of the meaning of this song is that the singer is lamenting that he fell in love with Rose, a girl his family believed to be beneath them in status. When Rose became pregnant, the singer’s father encouraged him to kill her to avoid the public embarrassment the situation would cause, believing that he could eventually free his son with his money and influence.

The song concludes with the father watching his son mount the gallows for murdering Rose. The strange reference to “burglar’s wine” seems to refer to the killer plying Rose with drugged wine before stabbing her so that she could she could resist his attack.

lyrics

Down in the willow garden where me and my love did meet

There we sat a-courting my love dropped off to sleep

I had a bottle of burglar’s wine my true love did not know

And there I poisoned that dear little girl down on the banks below



I drew my sabre through her which was a bloody knife

I threw her into the river which was an awful sight

My father often told me that money would set me free

If I would murder that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connelly



Now he sits at his old cabin door wiping his tear-dimmed eyes

Looking at his own dear son upon the scaffold high

My race is run beneath the sun the devil is waiting for me

For I did murder that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connelly

credits

from Am I Born to Die?, released October 20, 2015

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The Ghosts of Johnson City Portland, Maine

Based in Maine with musical roots in Appalachia and the Deep South, The Ghosts of Johnson City present simple and soulful versions of old mountain music, Civil War songs, coal-mining melodies, disaster chronicles, haunting murder ballads and tunes of love and loss in times of poverty. ... more

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