I Knew Not Why I Love Her (OT2003-3013-002)

I Knew Not Why I Love Her (OT2003-3013-002)

Song excerpted from audio recording OT2003-3013, part of VFC2003-0007 Margaret MacArthur Collection.

Margaret MacArthur Collection -- VFC2003-0007. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

1964-07-16

en

VFC2003-0007 OT2003-3013-002

Vermont Folklife Center

I Knew Not Why I Love Her

Some folks they talk of pleasure
But what pleasure can there be
For the girl that I love dearly
Has turned her back from me

But I know not why I love her
She does not care for me
But I know my poor heart wanders
Wherever she may be

If I'd done as my mother had told me
I should not have been here today
But I was young and foolish
And easily led astray

But I know not [Atwood begins again] but I know not why I love her
She does not care for me
But I know my poor heart wanders
Wherever she may be

They said that she's a lying
In a dark and dismal cell
No one to go and see her
And take her last farewell

But I will go and see her
No matter what it costs
And I will get married
To the girl that I love best

My mother told me to shun her
But shun her I could not
For the initials of my true love's name
Is printed on my heart

But I know not why I love her
She does not care for me
But I know her poor heart wandered
On the banks of Tennessee

References:

• "I Know Not Why I Love Her," handwritten lyrics owned by Margaret MacArthur copied from an old notebook of Fred Atwood's, archived at the Vermont Folklife Center.

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