The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #48191   Message #2396654
Posted By: Jim Dixon
24-Jul-08 - 07:34 AM
Thread Name: DTStudy: Come Write Me Down
Subject: Lyr Add: SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST (from Bodleian)
I've compared 10 versions at The Bodleian Library Ballad Collection, and this one seems most typical: Harding B 17(278a). I've added punctuation, and boldfaced the parts that I think are significantly different from the Copper version. Note that Copper's 6th verse, "To church they went....", doesn't appear here, or in any Bodleian version.
^^
SECOND THOUGHTS ARE BEST
"Printed by T. Birt, 10, Great St. Andrew-Street, Seven Dials, London."
[between 1828 and 1829]

1. Come write me down, ye powers above,
That first created man to love.
I have a diamond in my eye,
Where all my joy and comfort lie.

2. "I'll give you gold; I'll give you pearl,
If you can fancy me, my girl.
Rich costly robes, too, you shall wear,
If you can fancy me, my dear."

3. "It's not your gold shall me entice,
To leave my pleasures to be a wife.
I never do intend at all
To be at any young man's call."

4. "O go your way, you scornful dame.
If you are shy, I'll be the same;
For I don't fear but I can find
Another fair maid to my mind."

5. "O stay, young man; be not in haste.
You seem afraid your time will waste.
Let reason rule your roving mind,
And unto you I will prove kind."

6. My sorrow and trouble now are past.
My joy and comfort come at last;
But the girl that always said me nay,
Now proves my comfort night and day.