Beautiful Susan [Laws M29]

DESCRIPTION: Susan's parents take advantage of her sweetheart William's absence to inform her that he is dead. They arrange a marriage to another man. William's letter announcing his return drives her to suicide. William sees her ghost and also kills himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death trick suicide ghost love
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws M29, "Beautiful Susan"
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 69, "Beautiful Susan" (1 text)
DT 721, BEAUTSU
Roud #1022
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Damsel's Tragedy" (theme)
cf. "The The Seaman of Plymouth" (plot, characters)
NOTES [63 words]: Another song Laws lists as traditional, and British, even though only one version is known: The American one from the Brown collection. Ben Schwartz suggests that this is derived from "The Seaman of Plymouth." That strikes me as possible, in which case Laws is right: There are British broadsides of the latter, although the collected versions all seem to be American. - BS, RBW
Last updated in version 2.8
File: LM29

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