Go Dig My Grave
Go dig my grave both wide and deep
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
And on my breast a snow white dove
To tell this world that I died for love
Oh Lordy Lord, Oh Lordy me
Oh Lord, oh Lord, Oh Lordy me
She went upstairs for to make her bed
And not one word to her mother said
Her mother, she went upstairs too
Saying “daughter oh daughter
What troubles you?”
“Oh Mama dear, I cannot tell,
That railroad boy that I loved so well
He courted me my life away
And now with me he will not stay”
Oh Lordy Lord, Oh Lordy me
Oh Lord, oh Lord, Oh Lordy me
Her father, he came home from work,
Saying “where’s my daughter?
She seemed so hurt”
He went upstairs for to give her hope
And he found her hanging by a rope
Oh Lordy Lord, Oh Lordy me
Oh Lord, oh Lord, Oh Lordy me
He got his knife for to cut her down
And in her bosom these words he found;
Go dig my grave both wide and deep
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
And on my breast a snow white dove
To tell this world that I died for love
Oh Lordy Lord, Oh Lordy me
Oh Lord, oh Lord, Oh Lordy me
Notes
‘Go Dig My Grave’ is a member of a family of songs (‘Died for Love’, ‘The Butcher Boy’, ‘TheBrisk Young Farmer’ etc.) which seem to be largely made up of what are known as ‘floating verses’. Many of these verses were originally composed as stanzas of various different ballads, such as Robert Johnson's ‘A Forlorn Lover’s Complaint’, which dates back to c.1611. What separates the various ballads in this family is the order in which the verses appear. One element that most of them share is the description of the maid’s epitaph, like this one from a broadside dating to c.1790:
Dig me a grave, both wide and deep;
Place a marble-stone for to cover it,
And in the middle a turtle dove,
To show young virgins I dy'd for love!
Radie learned this particular version from the singing of Jean Ritchie, who recorded it in 1963 on
the album ‘Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City’ (FA 2426).