Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt) [Laws G19]

DESCRIPTION: A girl has been advised against flirting, but does it anyway. When her love Willie comes to her, she teasingly says she will not marry him. He drowns himself in the millpond. He is found with a rose from her hair at his lips
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting suicide drowning flowers
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws G19, "Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt")
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, pp. 49-50, "Willie Down by the Pond" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 275, "They Say It is Sinful to Flirt" (1 text plus mention of six more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 275, "Servant Man" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee, 36, pp. 64-66, "Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune, given its title by the editor although the informant called it "The Flirt" and the first line is "They say I am simply a flirt")
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, pp. 87-88, "Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #61, "Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shellans-FolkSongsOfTheBlueRidgeMountains, p. 41, "SInful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 57, "Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronner/Eskin-FolksongAlivePart2 56, "Willie My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 155-157, "They Say It Is Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, p. 94, "They Say It Is Sinful to Flirt" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 772, SINFLIRT
Roud #421
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Mountain Singers, "Sinful to Flirt" (Columbia 15678-D, 1931; rec. 1930)
Delmore Brothers, "They Say It's Sinful to Flirt" (Bluebird B-7192/Montgomery Ward M-7321, 1937)
Sim Harris, "Sinful to Flirt" (Homestead 16500, late 1920s)
Louisiana Lou, "Sinful to Flirt" (Bluebird B-5424, 1934)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Simple to Flirt" (Brunswick 578, 1931; rec. 1930)
Riley Puckett, "It's Simple To Flirt" (Columbia 15036-D, 1925)
Ernest V. Stoneman "Sinful to Flirt" (OKeh 40384, 1925) (Pathe 32271/Perfect 12350/Challenge 666/Conqueror 7064/Cameo 8220/Romeo 600/Lincoln 2825/Banner 2158/Domino 3985/Regal 8346/Homestead 16500/Oriole 947, 1927); "It's Sinful to Flirt" (Edison 52388, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5547, 1928)
Tom Watson, "It's Simple to Flirt" (Silvertone 3263, 1926)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "She Said She Was Only Flirting"
cf. "The Little White Rose" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sinful Flirting
Poor Willie Dead and Gone
File: LG19

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