Here's another version from Berzilla Wallin (you can hear her excellent - though it seems a bit muddled - version on youtube - Love Has Brought Me To Despair). The first line does seem to end in jade. It's listed as such in the Roud index (Roud 60)-for the versions from Berzilla Wallin and Dillard Chandler. Mick
LOVE HAS BROUGHT ME TO DESPAIR My father he was a rich old jade My mother she was a lady fair And me a-bein' the only heir So love has brought me to despair. It's when I wore my long silk gown He followed me from town to town. But now my apron just will tie, He passes my door, and he won't stop in. There is a street in yonders town Where my true love walks up and down. He takes another girl on his knee And tells to her what he won't tell me. He takes another girl on his knee, Oh ain't it a awful grief to me. There is some flowers I've heard them say That would cure false love both night and day. And of these flowers I did pull Until I got my apron full I gathered black, I gathered blue, But none of these flowers could I find that would cure false love or ease my mind It's out of these leaves i made a bed And out of these flowers a pillow for my hear It's down she lay a nary a word she spoke Until her aching heart was broke. And in the green meadows round I thought i heard a doleful sound Source: Berzilla Wallin, youtube - Love has brought me to despair
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