Banks of the Ohio

A dark riverside ballad of possessive love, murder, and the sheriff at the door.

Status: Traditional repertoire · working songbook
Writer / source: Traditional murder ballad; no single verified author located in project files
Rights: Older song or tune family. The source of this particular working version and its arrangement is still being reviewed.
Related Scrips recording: No Scrips recording linked yet.

Source research

Documented lineage

Earliest evidence: Collected/recorded in early twentieth-century Appalachian and commercial country traditions
Aliases / index: Down on the Banks of the Ohio · Roud Roud 157
Working arrangement: Arrangement details not yet documented.

Evidence 01 Evidence 02 Download full research note ↓

Working lyrics; chords needed

Working song sheet

Download text file ↓

Verse 1:
NOTES:
Come my girl let's take a walk
Just a little ways away
while we walk along we'll talk
Talk about our wedding day
CHORUS
Only say that you'll be mine
and in our home we'll happy
down beside where the waters flow
Down on the banks of the Ohio
A simple phrase is all I need
won't you take some time to think
no good to shed a single tear
for no one knows that we are here
CHORUS
Now taking her by her lily white hand
I laid her down on the banks of sand
Pushed her off in the rushing flow
and from my heart the pain did go
CHORUS
Next day as I returned back home
I met the sheriff standing in the door
He said: "Young man come with me and go
Down to the banks of the Ohio."
CHORUS

Archive note

This is a working band sheet. Lyrics, repeats, and chord placement remain subject to the band’s final review.

Chords

Not yet documented.