Little Ball of Yarn

It was in the month of May
When the lambs do skip and play
And the birds sing sweet lip to my charm
That I met a fair maid and to her I did said
May I wind up your little ball of yarn?

Oh no, no said she
You're a stranger to me
And perhaps you would have another's charm
You will have to look to those
Who have money and fine clothes
For to wind up the little ball of yarn.

So I caught her round the waist
And so gently laid her down
For I did not mean to do her any harm
Then she gazed up in my face
And locked both legs around my waist
While I wound up her little ball of yarn.

For then she jumped up
Took her skirt up round her waist
And skipped so lightly down the lane
Then I skipped across the green
For fear I had been seen
For I wound up her little ball of yarn.

So all you fair maids
Keep your head beneath the shade
Do not walk out so early in the morn
Like a black bird keep
Your head beneath your wing
And your hand on your little ball of yarn.

Recorded 1966, issued 1973 on the Remembrance Of Things To Come LP
on Folkway Records. Transcribed from the singing of The New Lost
City Ramblers [Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz and John Cohen]


From the album notes:

Learned from a recording of an 80-year old woman in Mena, Ark.,
recorded by Sidney Robertson, 1936. (AAFS 3236 A1)

This singer had a very wide repertoire of songs, and
I understand that she would sing this one only for
female company. It struck me that the song, textually
and melodically, would fit well into the Kelly Harrell-
Charlie Poole mountain chamber music style. It was
also recorded in a less direct non-narrative for by the
Southern Melody Boys for Bluebird in the 1930's. (M.S.)

Mike: voice and guitar; Tracy: fiddle; John: 5 string banjo

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqg7EhPlKj8