Katy Cline

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, who has not seen (Katy Cline/Kitty Clyde)? She lives at the foot of the hill In a shy little nook by the babbling brook That carries her father's old mill." He wishes he were a fish to be caught on her hook, a bee who could take honey from her, etc.
AUTHOR: probably L.V.H. Crosby (source: broadside LOCSheet sm1853 700580)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1853 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1853 700580; sheet music crediting "Kitty Clyde" to Crosby was published by T. Hough of Syracuse in 1853)
KEYWORDS: love courting bird floatingverses fishing
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 198, "Kitty Clyde" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 198, "Kitty Clyde (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 93, pp. 145-146, "Take Me Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol5, pp. 8-9, "Kitty Kline" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 28, "Kitty Clyde" (1 text plus an excerpt from a songster, 1 tune)
Lunsford/Stringfield-30And1FolkSongsFromSouthernMountains, pp. 38-39, "Kitty Clyde" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, p. 119, "Kitty Clyde" (1 text) (p. 100 in the 1919 edition)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1197, pp. 82-83, "Kitty Clyde" (1 reference)
Dime-Song-Book #1/72, p. 11 and #1/64 p. 11, "Kitty Clyde" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook 149, "Katy Cline" (1 text)
Roud #3768
RECORDINGS:
Cranford & Thompson, "Katy Cline" (Champion 45061/Supertone 2594, c. 1935)
R. C. Hedrich, "Kitty Kline" (AAFS 3763 B2)
Horace Helms, "Katy Kline (Katie Kline)" (on HandMeDown1)
Grandpa Jones, "Kitty Clyde" (King 772, 1949)
Vester Jones, "Katy Cline" (on GraysonCarroll1)
Monroe Brothers, "Katy Cline" (Bluebird B-6960, 1937)
Piper's Gap Ramblers, "Katie Kline" (OKeh, unissued, 1927)
Skyland Scotty, "Sweet Kitty Clyde" (Conqueror 8307, 1934)
Ernest Stoneman, "Katy Cline" (Gennett 3381, 1926/Challenge 151, 1927/Herwin 75528), "Katie Kline" (OKeh 45065, 1926)
Fields Ward & Bogtrotter Band, "Katy Kline" (AAFS 1360 B1)
Alice Williams, "Kitty Kline" (AAFS 1012 A3)
Ganos Williams & Ben Platt, "Kitty Kline" (AAFS 1014 B1)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1853 700580, "Kitty Clyde," T. Hough (New York), 1853; also sm1853 531340, sm1853 540350, sm1853 710030, sm1883 24133, "Kitty Clyde" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb20258b, "Kitty Clyde," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also as107290, as107300, "Kitty Clyde"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Free Little Bird" (floating verses)
cf. "Take Me Home, Poor Julia" (floating verses)
NOTES [262 words]: "Kitty Clyde" should not be confused with "Sweet Kitty of the Clyde."
Here are two "answers" in broadside form (at least one by the same author):
Bodleian, Harding B 18(491), "Willie Gray" or "Answer to Kitty Clyde" ("Oh! who has not seen Willie Gray "), H. De Marsan (New York) , 1864-1878
LOCSinging, as204070, "Willie Gray" or "Answer to Kitty Clyde," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1715), "Minnie Clyde" ("Oh, long I've sung of sweet Kitty Clyde"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Harding B 11(2431), "Minnie, Kitty Clyde's Sister"
LOCSheet, sm1857 610600, "Minnie Clyde," Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1857; also sm1885 04360, "Minnie Clyde" (tune) (words and music by L.V.H. Crosby) [Also Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1436, p. 97, "Minnie Clyde, Kitty Clyde's Sister" (1 reference) - RBW]
Broadsides LOCSinging as204070 and Bodleian Harding B 18(491) are duplicates.
Broadsides Harding B 18(491), LOCSinging as204070 and LOCSinging sb20258b : H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
There is also "The Grave of Kitty Clyde," Dime-Song-Book #9, p. 15.
Silber's version of this song is mysterious: Is it a collection of floating verses (from "Free Little Bird" and other courting songs), or is it a love ballad that has been so chopped down as to lose all meaning? I can't tell. Some of the verses remind me of some vague memories, so I suspect the latter -- but until I can remember details, I can't really say. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSWB149

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography