Lyr. Add: THE LONELY SCENES OF WINTER
Sung by Tom Waters, 1904

1
Lonesome seems the winter
The chilling frost and snow;
Dark clouds around me hover;
The wind has ceased to blow.
2
I went the other evening
My true love for to see.
I asked her if she would marry me;
She would not answer me.
3
The little birds sing sweetly
Among every bush and vine.
My joys would be doubled
If only you were mine.
4
The chickens are a-crowing,
It's almost break of day.
I'm waiting for an answer;
Kind love, what will you say?
5
'If it is you that I must answer,
I choose a single life;
For I never thought it suited
For me to be your wife.
6
'So take this for an answer,
And for yourself provide.
For I have found a new sweetheart
And you are cast aside.'
7
About six weeks or more,
The lady's mind did change;
She wrote to me a letter,
Saying, 'Kind sir, I feel ashamed.
8
'I feel that I've forsaken you;
I cannot bear in mind.
So here's my heart, come take it
And claim it as your own.'
9
I wrote her back an answer,
I sent it off in speed;
'I loved you once, my darling,
I loved you once, indeed;
10
'But since you proved false-hearted
I've learned to love again.
I've found a new sweetheart
And you may do the same.'

Belden notes that the song has been found in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Minnesota as well as in Missouri.
The version above: "No title, Taken down in 1904 by W. S. Johnson from the singing of Tom Waters, fiddler, in Tuscumbia, Miller County [MO]."
"A Newfoundland song, "Proud Nancy (FSN 47-51), has a like theme but little verbal resemblance." [Not in Peacock]