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George Collins

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Language
English
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Clerk Colvill (Child 42) and Lady Alice (Child 85) are two parts of the same story. In Clerk Colvill, he ignores his mother's or sweetheart's advice, and goes to the water's edge where he is seduced by a water-spirit or mermaid. Afterwards, Colvill complains that his head is aching and he is told that this is an omen of his impending death. In Lady Alice, Clerk Colvill (who is now known as Giles Collins), has died and Lady Alice is mourning her loss. In many of the stories Lady Alice sees his ghost and says she will be dead the next day to join him. The song, George Collins (which is usually how it's known in America), combines the two stories with more emphasis on the Lady Alice ending,

Kelly Harrell sang the story of George Collins as "Dying Hobo" on June 9, 1926, but he added this first verse of lyrics involving a dying hobo -

A way out west on a water tank
One cold December day
An' in the empty car box
A dying hobo laid

Dick Justice covered Harrell's version as "One Cold December Day" with more floating verses. The first verse of Harrell & Justice's versions became the lead in to yet another largely unrelated song called Little Stream of Whiskey by Burnett & Rutherford.
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Added by mduval32323

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