An S-O-N-G

As I was a-walking one morning in May,
I heard a fair damsel to sigh and to say,
My false love has left me and showed me false play,
'Twas down in the meadows among the green hay.

The very first time that he came to court me,
He said he'd be constant in every degree,
The very second time I did him espy,
'Twas: Oh!. No, oh! No, my love, not I!

My father is worth five hundred a year,
I, being his daughter, his on-e-ly heir,
Not one penny of portion, will he give me I fear,
If I marries with Y-O-U, my dear.

But as for your portion, my dear, never mind,
I'll make you a husband most loving and kind,
So unto the church, love, let us repair.
It’s never mind your F-A-T-H-E-R.

To church they went and were married straightway,
And home to her father’s that very same day,
Saying, Father, honoured father, I will tell unto thee,
We're M-A-double-R-I-E-D.

With that the old man he begin for to swear,
Saying, You've married my daughter, my on-e-ly heir,
But, since it is so, I have a new son,
You're W-E-double-L-C-O- M.


Gardiner H. 663. Singer: Alfred Stride, Dibden, Southampton, Hants. - June, 1907

Page 82 in Marrow Bones (Frank Purslow, EFDS Publications 1965)


Melody transcribed upon request