Willie Moore - Folk Song - Banjo

Willie Moore is one of my most favorite traditional folk songs of all time. It`s a broken hearted love song that tells the story of how a king (Willie) wants to marry a poor peasant girl (Anna) but Anna`s parents would not give permission to do so. Back in the old days you had the parents consent. I sing and play it on the mountain banjo in the clawhammer style. This is my latest attempt, although it might be a little better, I still haven`t been able to completely capture the vibe I hear in my head. Maybe I`ll try a guitar finger picking verson someday if I get brave enough.Show more

Willie Moore - lyrics
Clawhammer Banjo

Willie Moore was a king, his age twenty-one
He courted a damsel fair
Oh her eyes were as bright as the diamonds in the night
And wavy black was her hair

He courted her both night and day
'Til to marry they did agree
But when he came to get her parents consent
They said it could never be

She threw herself in Willie Moore's arms
As often he had done before
But little did he think when they parted that night
Sweet Anna he would see no more
--
It was about the tenth of May
The time I remember well
That very same night her body disappeared
In a way no tongue could tell

Sweet Anna was loved both far and near
Had friends most all around
And in a little brook before the cottage door
The body of sweet Anna was found

She was taken by her weeping friends
And carried to her parent's room
And there she was dressed in a shroud of snowy white
And laid in a lonely tomb
--
Her parents now are left all alone
One mourns and the other one weeps
And in a grassy mound before the cottage door
The body of sweet Anna still sleeps

Willie Moore hardly spoke to his friends
Till at last from them he did part
And his last days were spent near sweet Anna`s grave
where he died of a broken heart