A few more versions:

Annie Jane Kelly sang The May Morning Dew on July 14, 1952 in Kead, Co Armagh, to Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle. This recording was included in 2011 on Sarah Makem's Musical Traditions anthology As I Roved Out. The verses are from the accompanying booklet:

How sweet it is in yule times to sit by the hearth,
It's in winter when the dark clouds are crossing the earth.
In summer to wander the green meadows through
And the lark it will be rising on the May morning dew.

Oh it's summer is coming, oh, it's summer once more
Brings with it the soft sun and four motley birds
For the birds they'll be singing and the skies they'll be blue
And the flowers will be springing on the May morning dew.

For it's God be with old times that is faded and gone,
Likewise my two brothers, young Emmett and John.
For it's […] them where the wild hare 'tis viewed
And we'll mingle our tears on the May morning dew.

We will stand on the hill side and just gaze all around
Where all the kind people and its pleasure was found.
And all the kind neighbours which in new times I knew
Like the green fields are fading on the May morning dew.

On the home of our homesteads not a stone upon stone
For our gardens will blossom while the weeds they are growing.
For we'll curse the old tyrants which caused them to rue
And we'll fish the bright waters on the May morning dew.


Mike Taylor sang May Morning Dew in 1994 on Incantation's Cooking Vinyl CD Sergeant Early's Dream. Again the verses are copied from the liner notes:

How pleasant, in winter, to sit by the hob,
Listening to the barks and the howls of a dog,
Oh in summer to wander the wide valley through
And to pluck the wild flowers in the May morning dew.

Summer is coming, oh, summer is here
With the leaves on the trees and the sky blue and clear.
And the birds they are singing their their fond notes so true
And the flowers they are springing in the May morning dew.

The house I was reared in, there's not a stone on a stone
And all round the garden the weeds, they have grown.
And all the kind neighbours that ever I knew,
Like the red rose they've withered in the May morning dew.

God be with the old folks who are now dead and gone
And likewise my brothers, young Dennis and John,
As they tripped through the heather, the wild hare to pursue,
With their joys they were mingled in the May morning dew.


Joan Mills sang The May Morning Dew in 2000 on Frankie Armstrong's Fellside CD The Garden of Love:

How pleasant in winter to sit by the hob,
Listening to the dogs as they howl and they bark,
Or in summer to wander the wide valleys through
Picking wild heather in the May morning dew.

Oh, summer is coming, oh, summer is here
And the leaves on the trees and the sky's bright and clear.
And the birds they are singing songs so sweet and so true
As I walk through the heather in the May morning dew.

I long for my old friends who are now long since gone,
Also my brothers, young Dennis and John,
As they ran through the meadows the wild hare to pursue
There's nothing left now but the heather in the May morning dew.

And the house I was born in now is nothing but stone
And all o'er the garden the weeds they have grown.
And all the kind neighbours that ever I knew,
Like the red rose they have faded in the May morning dew.

And how pleasant in winter to sit by the hob,
Listening to the dogs as they howl and they bark,
Or in summer to wander the sweet meadows through
Picking wild heather in the May morning dew.