Sue vG, not 8_Pints, but I can't be bothered to change the cookie every time I want to post from our shared computer!

The version of the song I sing:

A brisk young sailor courted me
He robbed me of my liberty
He stole it with a free good will
But I must confess, I love him still

There is an alehouse in the town
Where my love goes and sits him down
He takes a strange girl all on his knee
Now isn't that a slight to me

A slight to me and I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I
But her gold will waste and her beauty pass
And he'll come to a poor girl like me at last

When I carried my apron low
My true love followed through frost and snow
But now my apron is to my chin
He passes me by and says nothing

There is a lad on yonder hill
Who has a heart as hard as steel
He has two hearts instead of one
And he'll still have mine when I am gone

I wish my baby it was born
And smiling on it's daddy's knee
And I myself was in my grave
With the long green grass growing over me

I wish, I wish but it's all in vain
I wish I was a maid again
But a maid again I never will be
Til apples grow on the orange tree

There are obviously several floating verses that crop up in lots of songs but I think these fit together pretty well. (It is known that old ballad singers would mix and match verses from various songs - it seems to me that it is a bit like using Lego bricks - build yourself a ballad!)
It is the "I wish my baby it was born" verse that was used in Cold Mountain. Riley did say that the other two verses had been written to extend the song for the film.

What do you think?

Sue vG