The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #169613   Message #4108047
Posted By: Felipa
29-May-21 - 12:45 PM
Thread Name: Any May songs?
Subject: RE: Banks of the Roses
I don't see "Banks of the Roses" on the list. It is related to The Nightingale (to hear the Nightingale sing) and the Fiddlng Soldier, but this fiddler doesn't jilt the lover. Rather, she says her father wouldn't approve. versions of the Banks of the Roses are in the Digital Tradtion; it can be a June song as well but I learned:

If ever I get married, twill be in the month of May
When meadows they are green, and flowers they are gay
And me and my true love will sit and sport and play
By he lovely sweet banks of the roses.

There are also versions in which nasty Johnny is a murderer, but the ones in the DT don't mention amonth, either May or June or anything else, in the lyrics given.

The DT variant which is close to what I know is https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=494