Digital Tradition Mirror

Oh Death (2)

Oh Death (2)

 What is this that I can see
 With icy hands taking hold of me
 I am death and none can tell
 I open the door to heaven and hell
 Oh Death, O Death, please spare me over till another year

 Death oh Death, consider my age
 please don't take me in this stage
 my wealth is all at your command
 if you would move your icy hand
 Oh Death, O Death, please spare me over till another year

 No wealth no land
 No silver nor gold
 Nothing satisfies me but your soul
 Oh Death, O Death, please spare me over till another year

 Mother come now to my bed
 Put a cold towel upon my head
 My head is warm my feet is cold
 Death put his shackles on my soul
 Oh Death, O Death, please spare me over till another year

 Death oh Death please let me see
 If christ has turned his back on me
 God's children pray, His preachers preach
 The time of hope is out of reach
 Oh Death, O Death, please spare me over till another year

Sarah Ogan Gunning recorded a version on her 1965 Folk Legacy album, "A Girl of
Constant
 Sorrow":
 The sleeve notes (UK release on Topic Records) say: " Oh Death is found in whit
e and Negro
 tradition from Texas to the Georgia Sea Islands and is available today in widel
y contrasting
 settings: unaccompanied vocal solo, hillbilly duet (with guitars), bluegrass ba
nd. This stark
 conversational piece has attracted a number of short stylized explanations whic
h place the song
 on the lips of a dying slave beaten by a cruel plantation mistress, or on the l
ips of a Kentucky
 hill-preacher stricken by the Lord for ignoring His call. Sarah adds an excelle
nt narrative of her
 own: Elizabeth, her mother, used to sing this sad song while gathering herbs in
 the woods. One
 day she wandered near a concealed underground still. The moonshiners took Aunt
Lizzie to be
 a ghost and in terrible fright abandoned the still (but only temporarily)."

 A similar dialogue with Death turns up in the traditional English song "Death a
nd the Lady",
 which may be 16th century in origin.

MD
oct99

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

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