(note by Elisabeth Higgins Null with Charles H. Baum)
Peggy says she learned this well-known murder ballad from the singing of Texas Gladden, accompanied by Hobart Smith, Gladden's brother, playing the banjo. Gladden and Smith, of southeastern Virginia, were star informants for folklorist Alan Lomax and were first collected by him in the 1930s and 1940s as well as later in 1959 and 1960. If you listen to a fragment of their reissued version found on Portraits: Texas Gladden: Ballad Legacy (Rounder Records: 2001), and compare it to Peggy's rendition, you can hear that Peggy pays homage to Gladden's strong, high-pitched vocal style as well as to Smith's up-tempo, intricate banjo-playing. Nevertheless, Peggy has made this song her own with melodic variations, signature banjo turnarounds, and breaks between the verses, as well as with a propulsive accompaniment that accents and syncopates the rhythm with startling chordal shifts.
The lyrics of 'Poor Ellen Smith' have no immediate antecedents in Great Britain or Ireland. As is common with execution ballads, the words are said to have been written by the condemned man, Peter DeGraff, after his conviction for the murder of Ellen Smith (July 20, 1892, in Forsyth County, North Carolina). Legend describes him sitting on his coffin while playing the tune on his banjo. Feelings ran so high after the trial, apparently, that singing the song was banned in public. A letter, purportedly in DeGraff's handwriting, was found in Ellen Smith's bosom when her body was discovered. A copy of it is located in the WPA holdings at the Alderman Library, University of Virginia, and reads as follows:
July 18, 1892. Dear Miss Ellen I write this to
You to sia if yow ar mad with me if you ar let
me no. Pleas dont think hard of me for I hav lov
you all of my life an cante lov no body but yow
so pleas lov me from your lov Peter DeGraff.
Sow I want yow to come tomorrow to the Spring
if yow will pleas com and don't fail for I want
you to com. Good by lov won a kiss for you as
you hav don before. P.D.A.G. (1)
(1) 1 DeGraff’s letter and much of the information in the preceding paragraph can be found in the notes written by folklorist D.K. Wilgus for a recording of Doc Hopkins produced by John Edwards Memorial Foundation (Birch: 1945).
Peter DeGraff was tried and executed in Winston-Salem, although, in several variants of this ballad, he proclaims his innocence. In other versions, he is imprisoned rather than executed.
'Poor Ellen Smith' has circulated widely. Names that tie it to a particular place and circumstance have often been altered in the process.
For other versions consult:
The Traditional Ballad Index, search 'Poor Ellen Smith' and 'Ellen Smith' as two separate songs:
www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/CSW143.html
www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/LF11.html
For additional recorded versions search the entry for 'Poor Ellen Smith':
The Folk Music Index:
www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/p06.htm#Pooliel
The Grateful Dead Discography:
www.deaddisc.com/songs/Poor_Ellen_Smith.htm