Nathan Killed the Bell Cow

from Green Are The Woods by Helena Triplett Faust and Jimmy Triplett

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Nathan Killed the Bell Cow

I don't understand the exact meaning of this song and Phyllis Marks who I learned it from, couldn't tell me either. All she knew was that it was a play party song from the time of the Civil War, to my mind, in the same chilling fashion that "Ring a Ring of Roses", is about the black plague in the Middle Ages. It is one of my favorites from her repertoire and I've never heard anyone else sing it. "Wind through bright cane yonder" is supposed to be, " wander through Blythe Canyon."

lyrics

Nathan Killed the Bell Cow

Oh Nathan killed the Bell cow
and fed the dogs the liver
and now we're out of meat
and we'll hang the dogs forever

The Hawk shoot the buzzard
and the buzzard shoot the Crow
we'll wander through Blythe Canyon
and kill the Buffalo

The magotts and the skippards
they do grow so very bold
been saving up your butter milk
seven years old

credits

from Green Are The Woods, released June 13, 1999
Learned from Phyllis Marks, Glenville, WV

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Helena Triplett Faust Wellington, New Zealand

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