Long ago there lived a man who courted all the women
And they tell me Willie Duncan was his name.
He left a mighty long line of saddened ladies,
Cruel Willie was a devil, what a shame.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she was a handsome lady in the valley
And they say her hair was likened to the sun.
And her eyes were blue as all the heavens put together,
She was just about as pretty as they come.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy was ridin' in his wagon one morning
When he came along the darling Katie Lou.
He was so betaken by her special kind of beauty
He was barely heard to whisper howdy do.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she smiled and said, "Now I don't believe you know me
But you knew my little sister very well.
She was just a special kind of sweet little lady
Till you took her and you broke her all to hell."
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy smiled and then he said, "I don't believe you know me,
For I never hurt a woman in my life."
Then he leaned a little bit closer for to kiss her
And she stuck him in the belly with a knife.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Now the wind that flutters ever gentle through the valley
By the place where Willie's sleeping in the ground.
And the words that read upon the stone of Willie Duncan
Say that one too many women got him down.
And they tell me Willie Duncan was his name.
He left a mighty long line of saddened ladies,
Cruel Willie was a devil, what a shame.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she was a handsome lady in the valley
And they say her hair was likened to the sun.
And her eyes were blue as all the heavens put together,
She was just about as pretty as they come.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy was ridin' in his wagon one morning
When he came along the darling Katie Lou.
He was so betaken by her special kind of beauty
He was barely heard to whisper howdy do.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Katie Lou, she smiled and said, "Now I don't believe you know me
But you knew my little sister very well.
She was just a special kind of sweet little lady
Till you took her and you broke her all to hell."
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Willie Boy smiled and then he said, "I don't believe you know me,
For I never hurt a woman in my life."
Then he leaned a little bit closer for to kiss her
And she stuck him in the belly with a knife.
Cruel Willie, ain't you sad,
For makin all the women feel bad?
Cruel Willie, ain't you 'shamed,
For causing all the women all the pain?
Now the wind that flutters ever gentle through the valley
By the place where Willie's sleeping in the ground.
And the words that read upon the stone of Willie Duncan
Say that one too many women got him down.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2019/9/25 - 18:58
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Musica di Howdy Forrester (1922-1987), virtuoso del violino bluegrass
Il brano nasce come strumentale da ballo, il testo fu aggiunto negli anni 70 da tal Bill Caswell, che in seguito divenne un apprezzato country songwriter
Testo trovato su Mudcat Café
La versione strumentale – uno standard del genere country bluegrass - si trova in molti dischi a partire dagli anni 50, come quello di Howdy Forrester intitolato "Fancy Fiddlin' Country Style".
La versione con testo si trova anche nella colonna sonora del film "Harlan County, USA", di Barbara Kopple, un documentario in cui le donne sono assolute protagoniste non solo nella lotta per il lavoro ma anche in quella per la loro emancipazione in una società maschilista e violenta...
Della colonna sonora di "Harlan County USA" fanno parte parecchie canzoni già presenti sul sito e altre – come questa - che inserirò trovandone i testi:
2 - Shut Up in Coal Creek Mine
3 - Come All You Coal Miners
4 - Blue Diamond Mines
5 - The Yablonski Murder (Cold Blooded Murder)
6 - Last Train From Poor Valley
7 - Black Lung
8 - Dark As A Dungeon
9 - Trouble Among The Yearlings
10 - Lawrence Jones
11 - Coal Black Mining Blues
12 - Coal Miner's Grave
13 - The Death of Harry Simms
14 - Disaster At The Mannington Mine
15 - Cruel Willie
16 - Hard Working Miner
17 - Dream Of A Miner's Child
18 - And I Am Born To Die
19 - Clay County Miner
20 - One Morning In May
21 - Which Side Are You On?
22 – They Will Never Keep Us Down