Troubled In My Mind (I)

DESCRIPTION: "I'm troubled (x3) in my mind; If (trouble doesn't kill me, I'll live a long long time.") Remainder is mostly floating verses: "My cheeks were as red as the red blooming rose." "I'll build me a cabin on the mountain so high." "I'm sad and I'm lonely."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad loneliness floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 102, "I'm Troubled" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AmericanFolksongsOfProtest, pp. 98-99, "I'm Troubled In Mind"
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 290, "Troubled in Mind" (2 texts); also 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (3 texts plus 3 fragments; the texts "A"-"C" are "The Wagoner's Lad," and "D" has an associated verse, but "E" and "F" are fragments of a love song, perhaps "Farewell, Charming Nancy" or "Omie Wise," both of which have similar lyrics; "D" also shares this single verse, and "E" adds a "Troubled in Mind" chorus); also 443, "I Had a Banjo Made of Gold," a fragment of this song or something related)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (6 tunes plus text excerpts, five of which are probably "The Wagoner's Lad" but the "E" tune is something else but has a chorus which might go here); 290, "Troubled in Mind" (2 tunes plus text excerpts)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 173, "Trouble On Your Mind" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12091 and 14067
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled" (Bluebird B-6538, 1936)
Rufus Crisp, "Trouble on my Mind" (on Crisp01)
Doc Watson & Arnold Watson, "I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled" (on Watson01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Sad and I'm Lonely" (floating verses)
cf. "Going Across the Sea" (floating verses)
cf. "I Wish That Girl Was Mine" (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES [121 words]: Other than the tune, and perhaps the first verse, the Lomax text seems to be composed entirely of floating verses from songs such as "The Wagoner's Lad (On Top of Old Smokey)" and "The Cuckoo." But it has so many floating lyrics that it can hardly be associated with any particular song. (Plus Paul Stamler tells me it's quite similar to Rufus Crisp's version.) And the Brown texts, of impeccable ancestry, is also composed mostly of floating material. Ditto Browne's (his notes says, "Such a composite is subject to constant change," and he's right). The level of confusion of this song is high; Roud's assignment of texts disagrees with mine, and I might well produce yet a third division if I were to start from scratch. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: LoF102

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