Annotation:Orphan Girl (The)
X: 1 T:Orphan Girl, The F:http://www.folkinfo.org/songs M:3/4 L:1/8 C:Music by Eld. C.G. Keith. Nov. 1, 1905 K:Eb B:The B.F. White Sacred Harp (Rev. Cooper Ed.), p. 506 z8(EG)|B4c2|B4G> B|B4(G> F)|E4B> B|e4e> e|f4c2| w:1."No_ home, no home," plead a lit-tle_ girl, At the door of a price-ly B4|:(B> B)|g4f2|e4e> c|B4B2|E4HG2|(FE4)c| w: hall, As she trem-bling stood on the pol-ished step, And lean'd_ on BB3(GF)|E6:|] w:the mar-ble_ wall.
ORPHAN GIRL, THE. American, Song Tune (3/4, slow). A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). One Part. A late Victorian-era ballad (dated to 1894 in the Ballad Index), widespread in the United States. Versions were recorded numerous times during the 78 RPM era, including those by North Georgian Fiddlin' John Carson (1924), Riley Puckett (1925), Ernest Stoneman (1926), Buell Kazee (1928), Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner (1929) and Len Nash & his Country Boys (1929). Thede prints eight stanzas of the pathetic ballad associated with the melody. It begins:
No home, no home, pled a little girl,
As she stood at the rich man's hall;
As she trembling stood at the parlor step,
And lent on the marble wall.
Her clothes were thin and her feet were bare,
But the snow had covered her head;
O, give me a home she feebly cried,
A home and piece of bread.
