Silver Dagger (song)

In "Silver Dagger", the female narrator turns away a potential suitor, as her mother has warned her to avoid the advances of men in an attempt to spare her daughter the heartbreak that she herself has endured.

[4] "Katy Dear" uses the same melody but different lyrics, telling a similar story from a male perspective.

Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother": Of interest are early versions of two songs, "Silver Dagger" and "Drowsy Sleeper", that are related thematically and may share a common origin in the older theme of night visit in traditional English songs,[7][8] but they differ in lines, verse rhythm and outcome in their lyrics.

[10][11] Early publications of "Silver Dagger" in the US may be found in Spirit of the Times and Gazette of the Union, Golden Rule and Odd-fellows' Family Companion in 1849.

Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother" by Kelly Harrell in 1926, as "Sleepy Desert" by Wilmer Watts And The Lonely Eagles in 1929, and as "Wake Up You Drowsy Sleeper" by The Oaks family in 1930.

[10] (Country music authority Bill C. Malone states that the Callahan Brothers learned traditional ballads like "Katie Dear" from their mother).

In the early 1960s, "Katie Dear" was recorded by folk revival musicians, including Joan Baez, and Ian & Sylvia.

All men are false, says my mother They'll tell you wicked, lovin' lies The very next evening, they'll court another Leave you alone to pine and sigh.

My daddy is a handsome devil He's got a chain five miles long And on every link a heart does dangle Of another maid he's loved and wronged.

Willy dear, it's no use [to] ask them They're in their room a takin' a rest And in their hands they both hold daggers To kill the one that I love best