The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162550 Message #3869717
Posted By: Richie
03-Aug-17 - 11:33 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Madam, I Have Come To Court You
Subject: RE: Origins: Madam, I Have Come To Court You
Hi,
The only extant UK version of Quaker's Courtship comes from Sabine Baring-Gould: "A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes," p. 35, 1895, Methuen and Co. London. It was "collected from a Devonshire nurse." Whether this was brought to the UK from the US is unknown.
The Quaker Song
O dear me! I've lost my lover!
Hum-hum-hum-hum-hum!
How shall I his loss recover?
Hum-hum-hum-hum-hum!
'Seek him dearest, thou shalt find him,
Fa-la-la-la-la-li-gee-wo.
Seek him when the spirit moves you,
Fa-la-la-la-la-li-gee-wo.
O but how he does disdain me!
Hum-hum-hum, etc.
His cruel looks have almost slain me!
Mum-hum-hum, etc.
As for looks they need not matter,
Fa-la-la, etc.
You must learn to fawn and flatter,
Fa-la-la, etc.
'But that dreadful sin of lying,
Hum-hum-hum, etc.
A guilty conscience when I'm dying,
Hum-hum-hum, etc.
'Love and conscience ne'er went courting,
Fa-la-la, etc.
Youth and death is ill consorting,
Fa-la-la, etc.
Richie