There have been several mentions to the Helen Creighton collected version of Peggy Gordon and printed in "Maritime Folksongs". The version in the DT has notes saying that it was collected in Nova Scotia by Helen Creighton. HOwever the DT version is not the Helen Creighton one. For the record here it is. ^^


PEGGY GORDON

Oh Peggy Gordon you are my darling,
Come sit you down all on my knee,
And tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee.

I'm deep in love but I dare not show it,
My heart lies smothered all in my breast,
It's not for you to let the whole world know it,
A troubled mind that has no rest.

I laid my head on a cask of brandy
Which was my fancy I do declare,
For while I'm drinking, I'm always thinking
How I'm to gain that lady fair.

I put my back against an oak tree
Thinking it was a trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke,
And that's the way my love served me.

I wish my love was one red rosy
A-planted down on yonder wall,
And I myself could be a dewdrop
That in her bosom I might fall.

I wish I was in Cupid's castle
And my true love along with me,
Oh Peggy Gordon, you are my darling,
Oh Peggy Gordon, I'd die for thee.

The sea is deep, I cannot wade it,
Neither have I got wings to fly
But I wish I had some jolly boatman
To ferry over my love and I.

I will go down to some lonesome valley,
Where no womankind is ever to be found,
Where the pretty little birds do change their voices
And every moment a different sound.

I wish I was as far as Ingo
Way out across the briny sea,
A-sailing over the deep blue water
Where love nor care never trouble me.

I wish I was in Spencervania
Where the marble stones are black as ink,
Where the pretty little girls they do adore me,
I'll sing no more till I get a drink.

Alan Mills has suggested that the last verse, especially the last line was a device for the singer to get a little payment before he would do another song.

rich r