Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)

Subject: RE: Early one morning
From:
Date: 15 Jul 99 - 01:19 PM

DT and Ballad Index info added by Joe Offer

---

EARLY ONE MORNING (DT Version 1)
(English, Traditional)

Early one morning,
Just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing,
In the valley below.

Chorus:

Oh, don't deceive me,
Oh, never leave me,
How could you use
A poor maiden so?

Remember the vows,
That you made to your Mary,
Remember the bower,
Where you vowed to be true,
chorus:

Thus sang the poor maiden,
Her sorrows bewailing,
Thus sang the poor maid,
In the valley below.

chorus: (slowly)

also see PUBLIBAR
Recorded by Dyer-Bennett
@love @courtship
filename[ EARLY1AM
TUNE FILE: EARLY1AM
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

---

EARLY ONE MORNING (3)

Early one morning,
Just as the sun was rising
I heard a maiden sing
In the valley below

cho: Oh, don't deceive me!
Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

I went for to investigate
And Jumped rigth o'er the farmer's gate
A-running, for I could not wait
Twas then, I spotted Daisy
Chorus:

Then I heard a rumbling,
A snorting and a thundering
Closer now came not a cow
But Aristotle the bull!
Chorus:

Oh, dearie dearie me!
I look'd into his fiery eye
And then he trampled over me
Old Aristotle the bull!
Chorus:

I lay there trampled in the dung
A-feeling like I'd just been wrung
Through a mangle tight and strong
And I was all a-tangle
Chorus:

Again, I heard it soft and clear
A-falling on my battered ear
That bloody maiden singing
In the valley below
Chorus:

@parody @humor @animal
filename[ EARLY1A3
TUNE FILE: EARLY1AM
CLICK TO PLAY
BC
Apr01

---

Traditional Ballad Index Entry:

Early One Morning

DESCRIPTION: "Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I heard a maid sing in the valley below, Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me; How could you use a poor maiden so?" She laments the young made who made promises and then betrayed her for a new girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1866 (Hullah, "The Song Book")
KEYWORDS: love courting abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 185, "Early One Morning" (1 text)
DT, EARLY1AM*
Roud #12682
File: FSWB185

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Subject: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: GUEST,Sandra
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 01:36 PM

Can anyone give me any info on the date/origins etc of "Early one morning just as the sun was rising, I heard a maid asinging in the valley below, o dont deceive me..."etc. I have the words but cant find any info (exept "traditional" "very old"). thanks in advance

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 01:47 PM

Bill and Gene Bonyun used to sing this old ballad as well.

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: LR Mole
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 03:40 PM

I first heard it on an episode of "Bonanza". I think Adam sang it.

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 05:26 PM

It's also the tune the Friendly Giant played on the recorder. I loved that tune! But we haven't answered your question yet....

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: Stewart
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 05:39 PM

In John Runge's Collection of Early English Lute Songs and Folk Songs (1959) it's origin is given simply as "17th Cent. English" - That's all I know.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: lady penelope
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 06:02 PM

This could be totally bogus, but it is one those songs attributed to Henry the VIII. Our Henry was supposed to be a proliffic song writer and often put songs foward under a false name as it wasn't , then, a kingly thing to do. So, frequently songs that may or may not have been written by him, get attributed to him. This may be quite unhelpful.

TTFN M'Lady P.

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: Bernard
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 06:12 PM

Try here

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 06:15 PM

Very nicely done, Bernard. I still like a chorus broken out.

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: Metchosin
Date: 25 Apr 01 - 06:23 PM

Animaterra, Mandolirim included this piece on their CD, Unstrung Heroes, in loving memory of Bob Homme who passed away last year and went way, way up. The track is entitled "For Those Who Like to Rock".

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 26 Apr 01 - 03:49 AM

This, together with the Ash Grove,Barbara Allen and All through the night were the first songs we learned in primary school back in the dark ages (well, 1948/9-ish)
RtS

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: IanC
Date: 26 Apr 01 - 05:15 AM

lp

I've never heard of any attribution to Henry VIII. I don't think this is likely to be one of his, sounds more like a C17 Madrigal, though I suppose it could be earlier. For a useful list of works attributed to H., look here.

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 26 Apr 01 - 06:54 AM

Ah, Metchosin, thanks for the info. I've had this sweet melody on my mind all the past day, thanks to this thread!

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: GUEST,Sandra
Date: 27 Apr 01 - 03:00 PM

hard to believe Our 'Enry was capable of writting this considering how he treated his ladies!!!! Guess its origins are lost. Beautiful no matter where it came from.Thanks for all help.

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: GUEST,Willa
Date: 27 Apr 01 - 04:53 PM

bernard; thanks for the info - this lovely version was new to me, thoughI've often sung the shorter version

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was ri
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 28 Apr 01 - 04:27 PM

Ow do you think e got is lidies in the fust plice??

Subject: ADD: Early One Morning (2)^^
From: Bernard
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 05:43 AM

An alternative version I learned from a friend over twenty years ago - I know not from whence it came!

What I do know is there are too many words on most lines, which makes it scan very oddly!!

---

Early One Morning (Aristotle the Bull)

Early one morning,
Just as the sun was rising
I heard a maiden sing
In the valley below
Chorus:
Oh, don't deceive me!
Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?
I went for to investigate
And Jumped right o'er the farmer's gate
A-running, for I could not wait
Twas then, I spotted Daisy
Chorus:

Then I heard a rumbling,
A snorting and a thundering
Closer now came not a cow
But Aristotle the bull!

Chorus:

Oh, dearie dearie me!
I look'd into his fiery eye
And then he trampled over me
Old Aristotle the bull!
Chorus:

I lay there trampled in the dung
A-feeling like I'd just been wrung
Through a mangle tight and strong
And I was all a-tangle
Chorus:

Again, I heard it soft and clear
A-falling on my battered ear
That bloody maiden singing
In the valley below
Chorus:
^^

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was rising
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 29 Apr 01 - 10:40 AM

Dear Animaterra,

Nice to see someone else remembers the "Friendly Giant's theme"! Ever since being introduced to his gently haunting rendition on recorder ('68 or '69 on the idiot box in Houston), I've always loved it performed that way best. Thanks for sparking the memory!

Subject: RE: Early one morning just as the sun was rising
From: GUEST,Sandra
Date: 30 Apr 01 - 10:38 AM

Point taken Guest JTT!!!

Subject: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Whitewater
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 09:22 PM

Before I ask my question I would like to say that you guys ROCK (no pun intended!)!! I work for my local Renaissance Festival and as a living history interpreter elsewere and as such, am always mindful of the need to be able to justify (and verify, if possible) the songs we sing as being more or less within the dates of whatever event we happen to be at. For some events this means Tudor, Medieval or Elizabethan music and for some this means sea chanties and/or Irish Victorian Pub Songs. Very rarely can I sing the entire folk repetoire at the same event ;> But I always need to know where the song came from, and when, and who wrote it, if possible. The Mudcat Cafe has been a wonderful resource for finding that information or at the very least, as a starting point for research into the song!! However, I am kind of stuck on the background of one particular song. I have the tune, and the lyrics, but have no more information.

Does anyone out there know the dates and/or any other historical information about an English folk song titled 'Early One Morning?' From the structure and the linguistics I would place it somewhere in the 1700's. . . am I correct? If anyone has info for me I would sure appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Whitewater

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Sorcha
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 10:43 PM

All I can find is "Trad. English" and it's apparently Tudor......sorry, maybe Malcolm will know more. He often does.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 01:52 AM

I don't have time to look far into this just now, but can tell you for a start that there are -or were- a lot of quite widely differing versions of this song.  William Chappell commented in his Popular Music of the Olden Time (1859):

"If I were required to name three of the most popular songs among the servant-maids of the present generation, I should say, from my own experience, that they are Cupid's Garden, I Sow'd the Seeds of Love, and Early One Morning...  The tune... was, I believe, first printed in my collection of English National Airs (1838-40); but the words are contained in many old song-books, such as Sleepy Davy's Garland, The Songster's Magazine, &c.  ...it is curious that scarcely any two copies agree beyond the second line, although the subject is always the same..."

He prints the tune, and the lyric that is known today, together with parts of other versions which apparantly date from the late 18th century.  I don't know anything about the songbooks he mentioned, though Bruce Olson probably would.

There are a number of broadside examples at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads,  all apparantly of the first half of the 19th century.  I doubt if the song is earlier than the mid-18th century, but I'm no expert on such things.  It may perhaps have earlier antecedents, but Tudor looks on the face of it like a very large exaggeration!

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 01:19 PM

Whitewater, The song was written by a Dublin Soliciter, Leonard McNally. McNally was responsible for betraying Robert Emmett, Emmett was hanged in 1803 for his part in the Irish insurrection. The title of the song is The Lass of Richmpnd Hill. Slan Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: MMario
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 01:35 PM

?? I may just be stupid (not unheard of) - but I see very little resmblence between either lyrics or tune of 'The Lass of Richmond Hill' and 'Early One Morning'

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Willa
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 01:43 PM

The info I have on this was from the www.contemplator.com/folk site; you might find it helpful as there is a bibliography, though I didn't access it.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Jenny H
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 07:41 PM

This isn't really relevant to the discussion, I suppose, but my Granny teaching in the 20's or 30s was told off by a School Inspector (who clearly knew nothing about the rural working day) for teaching that song to children. After all, if that Fair 'Maiden' was out _that_ early in the morning, she'd obviously been either up all night or sleeping somewhere she shouldn't, and We All Know What Kind of Woman That Is... >g<

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 07:55 PM

Agreed: "Lass of Richmond Hill" and "Early One Morning" are two entirely different songs: my copy of Early One Morning just says "English National Air" arranged by H.A.C. Tattie B

Subject: RE: Early One Morning
From: GUEST,Gunner
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 08:13 PM

The song is used as the slow march of the Royal Marines.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Sep 01 - 09:10 AM

They must play it very slowly!

And the slow march of the Artillery is the Eton Boating Song.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: ard mhacha
Date: 20 Sep 01 - 01:27 PM

MMario, and others sorry for the misinformation, [I posted this earlier but it didn`t get through]. you are right they are two different songs, Leonard McNally did write the Lass of Richmond Hill, and definitely not early in the morning, in the late evening maybe?. Slan Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: MMario
Date: 20 Sep 01 - 02:09 PM

ard mhacha - hey , it happens to all of us sooner or later...I thought possibly I was missing something - as there are other songs that don't seem related to me that "THEY" say are - I just can't see/hear/understand the links...and wondered what the connection was if there was one. y'know?

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 20 Sep 01 - 03:14 PM

A footnote to Ard Macha's post:

The Irish playwright and barrister Leonard MacNally wrote The Lass of Richmond Hill, in praise of Frances I'Anson of Hill House, Richmond, Yorkshire; probably before he married her in 1787.  It was first published -as a poem- in The Morning Post on 1st. August 1789 and first sung in public at London's Vauxhall Gardens by Charles Incledon, to a tune written by James Hook.  (Information from Frances I'Anson. The Lass of Richmond Hill, Leslie P. Wenham, 1986, quoted by Roy Palmer in English Dance and Song, vol. 63, no. 1, Spring 2001).

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: IanC
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 07:17 AM

I have been off the web for a few days, so I've just found this thread.

Malcolm seems to be essentially right about this one, though it might be worth pointing out that the song is (historically) more usually known as "The Lamenting Maid". All except one of the Bodleian copies appear to come from the period between 1813 and 1844. However, this one is, typographically, rather earlier (I'd say about 1800 at the latest).

Bruce Olson links the song (or at least one with the same name) with a number of others in his entry for "Winter it is past".

Ebsworth printed an eighteenth century copy entitled "The Lovesick Maid" in Roxburghe Ballads, VI, p. 240, and noted another copy in The London Rake's Garland (NLS, Lauriston Castle Collection). Two other eighteen century copies have been more recently printed by Hollowell and Black in Later English Broadside Ballads, (I) p. 127, as "The Irish Lovers," and p. 152, "The Lamenting maid."

There is also a useful entry on this useful site, which gives a date of 1787 for a song with this name, probably the correct one as it includes a reply (most of the broadside versions also do). I'll quote it in full.

Six excellent new songs. I. The minister's daughter of bonny Dundee. II. The lamenting maid. III. His answer. IV. An old song to the highland tune. V. A new song for the new year. VI. The north country lass. [Edinburgh]. Printed in the year, 1787 8p.: ill.; 120. National Library of Scotland Lauriston Collection 2901.C.(8). Place of printing suggested by Nat. Lib. of Scot. REFERENCE: ESTCT174346.

Though it claims here to be a new song, this may be worth taking with something of a pinch of salt, as it was a stock phrase of broadside and garland publishers.

Just to add a little spice, you may like to compare the version above with a copy of "The Forsaken Lover" in The Bodleian. This, perhaps, provides a link with another group of songs ...

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: Dates & info for 'Early One Morning'
From: Whitewater
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 12:49 AM

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of stuff I was hoping to find.

Love and peace,

Whitewater

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: GUEST,nai etreuffaliv
Date: 08 Jun 10 - 10:07 PM

nine years later
i add my two bits

Elizabeth Montgomery in "Bewitched"
sang a rendition that engraved itself in my mind
and someone kindly uploaded that very scene on Youtube

therein i saw our King Henry VIII
intrigued by her song
in between mouthfuls of a hearty feast

today,
i clicked on an even better version
by Nana Mouskouri
far more uplifting in voice, tempo, and visuals
than my grade 4 class and our ukeleles
could ever have mustered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3nC4YItSAY&feature=related

nai etreufalliv
on a tuesday
the eighth day
in this month of march
twenty hundred and ten

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 10:41 AM

The video linked above, to Nana Mouskouri has this comment:

'Early One Morning' is a traditional English folk song. A broadside in the Bodleian Library dates from about 1803 and believes the song may derive from an earlier piece "The Forsaken Lover".

Meanwhile, I have a book called 'Jacobean and Restoration Musicke for the Recorder,' and it's in there.

That book offers the following words for children, composed by Nathan Haskell Dole. I don't know when, or if they are copyrighted.

Early one morning, before the sun has risen
I heard a bluebird in the fields gayly sing.
'South winds are blowing, green grass is growing.
We come to herald the merry Spring.'

One autumn afternoon, just as the sun was setting,
I heard a bluebird on a tree pipe a song.
'Farewell, we're going. Cold winds are blowing!
But we'll be back when the days grow long.'


I'm happy to say that bluebirds are coming back, and today it is possible for a child to see one. Recently I accompanied a friend, age 70, to a cemetery to do some genealogy. I pointed out to her the first bluebird she had ever seen. She was thrilled.

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: John P
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 02:56 PM

Side note: the song was used in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as a mental trigger to make one of the characters turn evil. Every time he heard it he started killing things.

My ex I and I used to play it all the time. I think she learned it in her high school chorus. I know it's in the venerable book "Popular Music of the Olden Times" published by Chappel. Wikipedia lists a set of lyrics and an alternate set:

Early one morning,
Just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing,
In the valley below.

CHORUS:
Oh, don't deceive me,
Oh, never leave me,
How could you use
A poor maiden so?

Remember the vows,
That you made to your Mary,
Remember the bow'r,
Where you vowed to be true,

Chorus

Oh Gay is the garland,
And fresh are the roses,
I've culled from the garden,
To place upon thy brow.

Chorus

Thus sang the poor maiden,
Her sorrows bewailing,
Thus sang the poor maid,
In the valley below.

Chorus

Alternate Lyrics:

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a young maid sing in the valley below:
"Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?

"Remember the vows that you made to me truly;
Remember how tenderly you nestled close to me.
Gay is the garland, fresh are the roses
I've culled from the garden to bind over thee.

"Here I now wander alone as I wonder
Why did you leave me to sigh and complain?
I ask of the roses, why should I be forsaken?
Why must I here in sorrow remain?

"Through yonder grove, by the spring that is running,
There you and I have so merrily played,
Kissing and courting and gently sporting,
Oh, my innocent heart you've betrayed!

"How could you slight so a pretty girl who loves you,
A pretty girl who loves you so dearly and warm?
Though love's folly is surely but a fancy,
Still it should prove to me sweeter than your scorn.

"Soon you will meet with another pretty maiden,
Some pretty maiden, you'll court her for a while;
Thus ever ranging, turning and changing,
Always seeking for a girl that is new."

Thus sang the maiden, her sorrows bewailing;
Thus sang the poor maid in the valley below:
"Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 06:15 PM

It is indeed in Chappell(p735) in 4 variants of at least the first verse.
He includes it in the section 'Traditional Tunes of Uncertain Date'

'If I were required to name 3 of the most popular songs among the servant maids of the present generation (c1860), I should say, from my own experience, that they are 'Cupid's Garden', 'I sow'd the seeds of love', and 'Early one morning'. I have heard 'Early one morning' sung by servants who came from Leeds, from Hereford, and from Devonshire, and by others from parts nearer to London.'

My own opinion on it, looking at all of the sets of words and the tune, it is most likely a product of the mid 18thc pleasure gardens or the theatre of that period. One only has to point out some of the terminology, damsel, Cupid, gentle shepherd, perjured, typical of those 18th century pastoral pop songs. However it has survived in several forms in oral tradition for at least 250 years and is as much a traditional song as those of the earthier sort.

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 06:21 PM

It was taught to us here in Australia when I was in the first grade. 1951. Lady school teachers loved it.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: GUEST,andrew
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 07:12 PM

The tune's also used with other words,in the 6os TV series Robin Hood with Richard Green.
There's some on youtube. Here's one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAfYx2nX0_8

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAMENTING MAID / EARLY ONE MORNING
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Mar 18 - 06:00 PM

Wikipedia cited this as the earliest known printing of EARLY ONE MORNING. It's so different from the well-known version, it's hard to see how you could call it the same song. But it has the same opening line, it fits the same meter and rhyme scheme, and the theme is similar.

From the Bodleian collection, Firth c.18(103):


THE LAMENTING MAID.

Early one morning just as the sun was rising,
There did I hear and a fair maiden say,
Crying: "O Cupid, O send my love to me.
Give me my shepherd or else I shall die.

"How can you slight a poor girl that loves you?
False-hearted young man, tell me why.
'Twas your fond doing which provèd my ruin.
'Tis all for the sake of a young man I die.

"Down in the meadow and sweet shady bower
There can I witness the vows to me you made.
Go, you false pretender! Don't you remember
When first my poor innocent heart you betray'd?

"How can you slight a poor girl that loves you?
How would you like to be servèd so?
You're ever a-ranging; your mind is always changing.
You're always seeking for beauties that are new.

"But when you have rang'd and have try'd every fair one,
The truth of my love perhaps you then may find.
Some they will cheat you; with false arts they'll meet you,
But my love to you's of the purest kind.

"Should you fall in love with a false-hearted woman,
Perhaps she may slight you and treat you unkind.
Anguish, grief, and sorrow, they will bid you good morrow.
The torture of a lover you surely then will find."

THE ANSWER

Who's that I hear now making lamentation?
Surely it is the voice of my love.
I'll be no longer cruel to my dearest jewel,
But constant and true like the turtle dove.

Tho' I've been ploughing the wide ocean
For honour and riches to bring to my dear,
Now the wars are over, I'll be no more a rover,
For a sailor's heart is ever sincere.

Tho' I have rang'd and have seen many a fair one,
And many have sought my heart to invade,
The truth I'll discover: I ne'er sought a lover,
For 'tis you alone the conquest have made.

Why does my fair one then sit hesitating?
Let us go to the church where I'll make you my wife.
I am no pretender; my heart I'll surrender,
Then take it in keeping and bless me for life.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Early One Morning (trad English)
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Mar 18 - 06:46 PM

I have a book called "Jacobean and Restoration Musicke for the Recorder," and this song is in it. The book gives no further information about it.

My sense of when the Jacobeans and the Restoration actually occurred is quite vague. Anybody know?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Early One Morning (trad English)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Mar 18 - 06:50 PM

From A Collection of National English Airs, Volume 2, edited by W. Chappell (London: Chappell, 1838), page 77:

No. LXXXIII. EARLY ONE MORNING. Of this song, though very generally known, and frequently sung, we have seen no printed copy, nor have we been enabled to ascertain anything more than that only the first verse of the words now adopted is old, and the others added by Mr. Paul. The following doggrel lines, taken from a volume of old Penny Song Books, collected by Ritson, are probably the original words, and, possessing no pretension to rhyme beyond the first verse, may, for that reason, have been thrown aside and forgotten, while the beautiful melody to which they were coupled has deservedly survived.

THE MAID'S LAMENTATION, from The Songster's Magazine.

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a pretty damsel to sigh and complain,
"Oh gentle shepherd, why am I forsaken?
Oh why should in sorrow remain!

How can you slight a pretty girl that loves you,
And one to whom you are dear as her life?
But love is a folly, a foolish, foolish fancy,
Still it proved my overthrow!

But whene'er you meet a pretty woman,
You will go and court her too, for a while:
You are always ranging, chopping, and changing,
Always seeking a girl that is new.

Thro' yonder grove there is a pleasant bower,
Where you and I have spent many an hour
In kissing and courting, and in gentle sporting,
Oh! my innocent heart you've betray'd."

THE WORDS USUALLY SUNG.

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maid sing in the valley below;
"Oh don't deceive me! Oh do not leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Oh! gay is the garland, and fresh are the roses
I've culled from the garden to bind on thy brow;
Oh, don't deceive me! Oh, do not leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Remember the vows that you made to your Mary,
Remember the bow'r where you vow'd to be true;
Oh, don't deceive me! Oh, do not leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

Thus sung the poor maiden, her sorrows bewailing,
Thus sung the poor maid in the valley below;
Oh, don't deceive me! Oh, do not leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?"

A hornpipe occasionally played at the theatres, which will perhaps be recognized by the name of a slang song, "Come all ye young blades that in robbing take delight," (words sung to that tune) is also apparently founded upon this melody.

* * *
[The tune can be seen here.]

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Aug 18 - 12:40 AM

This was posted in a place where it might get lost...

Thread #20147   Message #208488
Posted By: Dave (the ancient mariner)
07-Apr-00 - 03:15 PM
Thread Name: Looking for the name of a tune... (closed thread)
Subject: Lyr Add: EARLY ONE MORNING

The song is called: EARLY ONE MORNING. One of the first songs I learned to sing; and a favourite still. Yours, Aye. Dave

Here are the lyrics.

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising
I heard a maiden sing in the valley below
Oh, don't deceive me; oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Oh gay is the garland, and fresh are the roses,
I've cull'd from the garden to bind on thy brow.
Oh don't deceive me; oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Remember the vows that you made to your Mary,
Remember the bow'r where you vow'd to be true
Oh, don't deceive me; Oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Thus sang the poor maiden, her sorrows bewailing
Thus sang the poor maid in the valley below
Oh, don't deceive me; oh, never leave me!
How could you use a poor maiden so?

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Aug 18 - 01:24 AM

Those are the words I learned to sing way way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and rocks were still soft.

Was probably about 10-12 YO or so.

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: Will Fly
Date: 10 Aug 18 - 06:00 AM

This song, and others like it, always remind me of primary school days and singing in class with the New National Song Book while the teacher played the piano. Some others (as I recall) were:

Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill
The Minstrel Boy
The Ash Grove
Oh, No John
The British Grenadiers
The Lincolnshire Poacher

and many others. The Lincolnshire Poacher is a fascinating example of a song being carried by sailors to the Caribbean and being slowly transformed into Sonny Rollins' jazz composition "St. Thomas"!

The book, and those singing sessions on a Friday afternoon in a Lancashire primary school, are fond memories.

Subject: RE: Origin: Early One Morning (just as the sun was...)
From: Thompson
Date: 10 Aug 18 - 06:14 AM

The opening line is a clear example of a mise-en-scene, nice and terse.

The same image is used, for instance, in Fáinne Gheal an Lae - "Ar maidin moch, do gheabhas amach, ar bhruach Locha Léin" - "Early in the morning I went out on the shore of Loch Leane". Is it common in other languages too?