Susan Carr

DESCRIPTION: Billy Green and Susan Carr had courted, but she turns to Thompson instead. Green challenges Thompson for the right to her hand. Green kills Thompson and drowns himself. Susan dies soon after. All three are buried together
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment homicide death burial drowning suicide
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H690 p. 416, "Susan Carr" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7964
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pride of Newry Town" (plot)
NOTES [81 words]: The notes in Henry/Huntington/Herrmann speculate that this may be related to Laws P33, "Susannah Clargy" (one of the most obscure of the Laws ballads). I strongly doubt there is any link. There are common elements -- a girl with two lovers, and a death, as well as the similar names of the heroines -- but many different elements as well. "Susan Carr" sees the two suitors do battle, while "Susannah Clargy" is a song of suicide with the lover's ghost coming back to take her away. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: HHH690

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