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Banks of the Sweet Primroses
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Shirley Collins >
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The Sweet Primeroses
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Banks of the Sweet Primroses
The Banks of Sweet Primroses / The Sweet Primeroses
[
Roud 586
; Master title: The Banks of Sweet Primroses
; G/D 8:1841
; Ballad Index ShH51
; VWML LEB/2/66/5
; GlosTrad
Roud 586
; Wiltshire
723
; DT SWTPRIM
; Mudcat 17060
; trad.]
Copper Family: The Copper Family Song Book A Song for Every Season Alan Helsdon: Vaughan Williams in Norfolk Volume 2 Maud Karpeles: The Crystal Spring William Henry Long: A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland John Morrish: The Folk Handbook Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of English Country Song Frank Purslow: The Constant Lovers James Reeves: The Idiom of the People Steve Roud, Julia Bishop: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs Ken Stubbs: The Life of a Man Ralph Vaughan Williams, A.L. Lloyd: The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
Phil Tanner sang The Banks of the Sweet Primroses in a recording made in November 1936 that was released by Columbia Records in 1937 on a 78rpm album. This was also included in 1955 and 1998 on the Alan Lomax Collection album World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England and in 1998 on the Topic anthology Come Let Us Buy the Licence (The Voice of the People Volume 1). He was again recorded singing this song on 20 May 1949 at Penmaen for the BBC. Both versions were also included in 1968 on his eponymous EFDSS album, Phil Tanner, and in 2003 on his Veteran anthology CD The Gower Nightingale. John Howson noted:
This bitter-sweet song of lost love was held in great affection by country singers. As a consequence it was widely noted from oral tradition, the first time perhaps by W.A. Barrett in 1891. Two other early collectors, Henry and Robert Hammond, believed the primroses (that is, versions of the song) to be “so numerous we did not stop to gather any”. The first published text seems to have been issued by the ballad printer James Catnach of London’s Seven Dials, though it is not listed in his 1832 catalogue. Other printers, in Birmingham, Manchester and elsewhere, kept the song on the streets until the 1880s. Phil Tanner’s fine version is sung with characteristic melodic variations. Almost all of the collected versions come with the same fine (and obviously popular) melody. This may also help explain why the song became so widespread.
Walter Gales sang As I Walked Out One May Morning at the Windmill in Sutton, Norfolk, on 27 October 1947. This BBC recording 13866 made by E.J. Moeran was broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in late 1947. The programme was also published in 2012 on the Snatch’d From Oblivion CD East Anglia Sings.
Jim, John, Bob and Ron Copper sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in a recording made by Séamus Ennis at Peacehaven in Sussex on 3 April 1952 for the BBC Sound Archives Library. This recording was included on the anthology Songs of Courtship (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 1; Caedmon 1961, Topic 1968), in 1975 on the famous anthology Electric Muse: The Story of Folk Into Rock, in 2001 on Topic’s Copper Family anthology Come Write Me Down, and in 2011 on the anthology The Rough Guide to English Folk. Bob and Ron Copper sang it again in 1955 in a recording made by Peter Kennedy; it was included in 1996 on the Topic anthology Hidden English: A Celebration of English Traditional Music. And Bob Copper recorded it for a third time in 1995 for their CD Coppersongs 2: The Living Tradition of the Copper Family.
Bob Copper also sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses. at a concert with Bob Lewis at Nellie’s Folk Club, The Rose and Crown Hotel, Tonbridge, Kent, on 17 October 1999. Th concert’s recording was released in 2017 on their Musical Traditions CD The Two Bobs’ Worth.
The Young Coppers sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses. on their 2008 album Passing Out. A video of the Young Coppers was uploaded to YouTube in August 2011 but gives no information about the venue and recording date:
George ‘Pop’ Maynard sang Sweet Primroses at the Abergavenny Arms in Copthorne in 1960. This recording made by Brian Matthews was included in 2000 on Maynard’s Musical Tradition anthology Down the Cherry Tree.
Louis Killen sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in 1965 on his Topic album Ballads & Broadsides. This track was also included in 1996 on the CD reissue of the Topic theme album of traditional songs of love and lust, The Bird in the Bush. Angela Carter noted:
This bittersweet love-song, perhaps of seventeenth century broadside origin, remains re-markedly constant in text and tune whether stung in Sussex, Somerset, the Gower peninsula or the North Country, or put into the home-made harmonics of the Copper Family again in Sussex. As A.L. Lloyd says: “Clearly, singers have found this song unusually memorable and satisfactory, for the process of oral transmission seems to have worked little change on it.” (The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs). Like so many English love songs, the opening magically recalls the breathless evocation of spring in medieval poetry, when leaves grow green, flowers bud out, small birds sing and the young man says; “Now springes the spray. All for love I am so sick That slepen I ne mays”.
George Belton from Sussex sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses to Tony Wales at Horsham Festival Boys Club on 29 July 1961. This recording was included in 2020 on his Musical Traditions anthology A True Furrow to Hold. Another recording made by Sean Davies and Tony Wales in Madehurst, Arundel, Sussex, on 29 January 1967 was released in the same year on his EFDSS album All Jolly Fellows …. Tony Wales noted:
Found all over England, but strangely not in the U.S.A. Broadsides of the the song were printed by Henry Such of London, and Barraclough of Nuneaton. It can be found in several collections, including Barrett: English Folk Songs; Gullington: Eight Hampshire Folk Songs; Kidson: Garland of English Folk Songs; Carey: Ten English Folk Songs; Sharp: Folk Songs From Somerset; The Folk Song Society Journal, etc. It has been recorded by Phil Tanner (E.F.D.S.S.) and Shirley Collins (Topic).
Fred Jordan from Aston Muslow, Craven Arms, Shropshire, sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in a recording made by Mike Yates on his 1966 Topic album Songs of a Shropshire Farm Worker and on his 2003 Veteran anthology A Shropshire Lad. Another recording made by Ian Russell at Denby Dale, Yorkshire, on 5 October 1990 was included in 998 on the EFDSS anthology A Century of Songs. Mike Yates noted on the first album:
The song is known all over England, though oddly enough it doesn’t seem to have crossed the ocean to America. Perhaps the best-known version is that recorded on commercial disc by old Phil Tanner of Gower in the 1930s, but pretty well all the collected sets of the song closely resemble the broadside version published by Barraclough of Nuneaton, and later by Henry Such of London. Fred Jordan had the song in incomplete form, and learnt the last two verses from George Maynard of Copthorne, Sussex, when the two singers met at a folk song festival in London.
Shirley Collins sang The Sweet Primeroses as the title track of her 1967 album The Sweet Primeroses; she was accompanied by her sister Dolly Collins on her flute-organ. This track was also included on her anthologies Fountain of Snow (1992), Within Sound (2002), The Classic Collection (2004) and An Introduction to Shirley Collins (2017), and on the Topic anthologies Folk Songs: A Collection of Ballads & Broadsides (1971) and The Real Sound of Folk Music (2017). A live version recorded in 1979 at the Folk Festival Sidmouth was released on her album Snapshots. Shirley Collins noted on her original album:
A last song from the Copper Family, whose songs sound to me like national anthems - or like anthems should sound. All the Southern countryside is here, with a grave, stylised account of a formal meeting on a particular midsummer’s morning, the heartbreak of parting tempted with a stoical optimism. Dolly’s arrangement has some of the Copper’s spirit, and some of “the pretty little small birds” too.
Shirley Collins is the only one who calls this song The Sweet Primeroses. On all other recordings the title is The Banks of Sweet Primroses or The Banks of the Sweet Primroses, without the “e” in the middle.
Harry Green sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 1967 on the Veteran anthology of song from Harry Green and other traditional singers from Essex, The Fox & the Hare. John Howson noted:
This is the 3rd and 4th verse of a five verse ballad which Roy Palmer in Everyman’s Book of English Country Song describes as “A woman’s grief at being deceived by a man causes her to reject his attempt to renew their relationship. However, her final warning to other ‘fair maids’ turns into an expression of hope”. This must have been one of the most popular of broadside productions with at least nineteen printers from all over England listing it in their catalogues. During his 1904 collecting trip to Essex Ralph Vaughan Williams came across three versions from Charles White in Fyfield, Samuel Childs and Edna Veal in Willingale Doe. Recorded versions of the complete song can heard from Fred Jordan (VT148CD A Shropshire Lad) and from Phil Tanner (VT145CD The Gower Nightingale).
Martin Carthy sang Banks of Sweet Primroses on his and Dave Swarbrick’s 1968 album But Two Came By. He also sang Banks of Sweet Primroses with Blue Murder on their 2002 CD No One Stands Alone; this track was included in 2004 on the Topic/Highpoint anthology The English Collection. Martin Carthy noted on the first album:
The Banks of Sweet Primroses has been described as one of the most perfect of English folk songs. It has been collected all over southern England, nearly always in forms closely approximating, or at least related to, this version. In its idyllic setting of fresh air, flowers and green grass, it is the happiest and most optimistic song I have yet to come across.
Jon Rennard sang Banks of Sweet Primroses live at the Bate Hall Folk Club in Macclesfield, in November 1970. The concert’s recording was published in the following year on his Traditional Sound album The Parting Glass.
The Wayfarers sang Banks of Sweet Primroses in 1970 in their eponymous Folk Heritage album The Wayfarers
Rebecca Penfold sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses to Peter Kennedy in her cottage at Mount Pleasant, Broadwood Kelly, Devon, on 15 March 1971. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of songs by Southern English Gypsy traditional singers, I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Volume 22). Editor Shirley Collins noted, quoting Rebecca Penfold:
“I learnt it from my mother when I was a girl, you see—and her mother used to sing it, my grandmother. Well, I don’t know nothing about the song, sir; just that we used to sing it.”
Rebecca Penfold was born at Blackawton Forches, near Dartmouth in south Devon on May Day, 1900. She was 71 at the time of recording and had been suffering from the ’flu. She told Peter she had always been a hawker. “I don’t do much now because we got older and don’t go out in the cold weather, you see. But it was always our living and our work. My husband used to go out horse-dealing and a bit of bullockdealing and things like that, and I used to go round with my old cart. But all we can do now is watch the television and the fire.”
Fairport Convention sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses on their 1971 album Angel Delight. This track was included in 2017 on their anthology Come All Ye. A 1970 live recording from the LA Troubadour was released in 1977 on the concert’s album House Full. A 1971 BBC Folk on One recording was included in 2007 on their compilation Live at the BBC. Fairport again recorded the song in 2002 for their anniversary CD XXXV.
Bob Hart sang The Banks of the Sweet Primroses on his 1973 Topic album Songs From Suffolk. An earlier field recording at the Crown Inn in Snape, Suffolk, from the 1960s was included in ca. 2000 on the Helions Bumpstead anthology Songs From the Singing Tradition of Snape Crown. A recording made by Bill Leader in Hart’s home in Snape in 1969 was included in 1998 on Hart’s Musical Traditions anthology A Broadside. A.L. Lloyd noted on the Topic album:
In an idyllic setting, a man meets a girl. He seems not to know her, but she knows him too well, and scornfully rejects his overtures. What’s the big attraction of the song that makes country singers regard it as the ace of lyrics? During the twentieth century it has turned up over and over again, in the West Country, through the southern counties, and far up into East Anglia. The most famous recorded version was got from Phil Tanner of Gower. Bob Hart’s version of the tune differs slightly from Tanner’s for whereas the Gower singer begins each line with a different melody-phrase, Bob Hart’s first three lines repeat the incipit. Others have done the same. Seventy years ago, Vaughan Williams heard the tune sung this way by the parish clerk of Willingdale Doe in Essex.
Linda Walker sang Sweet Primroses at the The Ship Inn, Blaxhall, on 16 November 1973 This recording was released in 1974 on the Transatlantic album of a “sing-song in a Suffolk pub”, The Larks They Sang Melodious.
Derek Sarjeant and Hazel King sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses on their 1976 album Hills & Dales. They noted:
Cecil Sharp collected several versions of this song in Devon and Somerset. Although the song is widespread particularly in the South and West of England the tune and text differ only slightly.
Stuart Moffat played Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 1984 on the Dambuster album celebrating British tunes, Buttons & Bows.
Maggie Boyle sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses on Steve Tilston’s and her 1992 album Of Moor and Mesa. Steve Tilston also sang Sweet Primroses in 2025 on his Talking Elephant album Last Call. The first album’s liner notes commented:
As with so many traditional songs, the earliest origin of Primroses is unknown. It was circulated on broadsides in the 19th century. The “folk process” of adapting words and tune to suit individual taste has, in this case, done very little to alter the song over the years.
Mick Hanly and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill of the Bothy Band sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in a recording out-take from their 1974 duo album Celtic Folkweave. This track was included in 2022 on the album’s CD reissue.
Ray Driscoll sang Banks of Sweet Primroses, “one of the songs learnt from his first wife’s family in Hanwood, Shropshire”, to Gwilym Davies in between 1993 and 2002. This recording was included in 2008 on his album Wild, Wild Berry.
Vic Legg sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 1994 on his Veteran album of Cornish family songs, I’ve Come to Sing a Song.
Graham Moore sang Banks of Primroses on his 1995 album Tom Paine’s Bones.
Finest Kind sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses on their 1996 album Lost in a Song. They noted:
A southern English gem from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and the incomparable Copper Family of Rottingdean, Sussex.
Graham Metcalfe sang Sweet Primroses in 1996 on his WildGoose album Songs From Yorkshire and Other Civilisations. He noted:
First heard from Fred Jordan on a visit to York folk club in 1970. Some songs give you an extra buzz when singing them. This is my buzz!
Brian Peters, with Eliza Carthy accompanying and singing chorus, sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in 1997 on his album Sharper Than the Thorn. He noted:
The Banks of Sweet Primroses comes from Phil Tanner, one of the greatest traditional singers ever recorded, who at the age of 87 retained enviable range, power and accuracy, and sang with unsurpassed joy. The song is a common broadside, but Phil’s idiosyncratic rhythm gives it irresistible swing.
Tony Rose recorded Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 1999 for his CD Bare Bones.
Martin Simpson recorded Banks of Sweet Primroses in 2001 on his Topic album The Bramble Briar. He noted:
Mo Ogg would sing Banks of the Sweet Primroses, one of the great anthemic English love songs. There are fine versions recorded by Phil Tanner and The Copper Family and also Pop Maynard. I have always loved the verse: –
Come all you young maids who go a-courting
And pray pay attention to what I say,
For there’s many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sunshiney day.
And June Tabor sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 2005 on her CD At the Wood’s Heart. She noted:
I think I must have learned this classic of the Southern English repertoire from the singing of the Copper family. In his notes to the version in the Gardiner mss., Frank Purslow, in The Constant Lovers (1972), suggests that it may be an incomplete broken token ballad, with the final verse being a spurious addition by an early 19th century broadside printer. For me, the charm of this song is in its very mystery and incompleteness, with the last verse a glorious affirmation of love and hope.
The English traditional tune Monks Gate which follows the song is best known in its setting of John Bunyan’s To Be a Pilgrim.
Community choirs from the Test Valley sang The Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 2001 on their WildGoose album Beneath Our Changing Sky. The liner notes commented:
The Banks of the Sweet Primroses is a more recent song, probably less than 200 years old. It was very widely known and Dr. Gardiner collected a version, similar to this one, in Twyford, near Winchester. The song became popular through publication in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.
Chris Bartram sang The Banks of the Sweet Primroses on his 2005 album of traditional songs from England, Yorkie. He noted:
I choose songs that cover a wide range of emotions, none of which are as straightforward as they first appear. I like to think about how feelings motivate people but don’t want them to be transparent. They don’t even have to be coherent—real emotions rarely are. There’s themes of loneliness combined with some quite cruel trickery in The Bailiff’s Daughter and Sweet Primroses; bitterness and a touch of schadenfreude in Yellow Hankie; psychopathic thinking and betrayal of trust in Jealousy; grief and loss (and guilt?) in Fare Thee Well; vengeance and, perhaps, sibling rivalry in Bill Brown.
The Askew Sisters sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in 2007 on their WildGoose CD All in a Garden Green. They noted:
This lovely song is almost as popular today as it was 100 years ago, when collectors came across it so often that some stopped noting it down! We like the idea that the guy in the song has hit on the same girl twice without realising, and that she’s not prepared to stand for it! This version comes from the singing of Mrs Vaisey, a Hampshire woman who was living in Oxfordshire when Lucy Broadwood collected it in 1892 [VWML LEB/2/66/5] . We’ve put a couple of verses back that she seems to have forgotten, but they can be found in other collected versions.
Jane and Amanda Threlfall sang Banks of Sweet Primroses on their 2008 CD Sweet Nightingale. They noted:
From the magical singing of Phil Tanner, 1862-1950. Although said to have known around 80 songs, when Doug Fraser published the then known list of Tanner’s repertoire in Phoenix magazine in 1966, this was amongst a distilled 22 the singer either recorded or others remembered him having sung.
Cecil Sharp had declared it one of the most common English folksongs, with versions appearing from almost everywhere. For common, read popular. For popular, read good.
Martyn Wyndham-Read sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses in 2010 on his album Back to You. Shirley Collins noted:
Although this song was found widespread throughout the country, it is most generally associated with the Copper Family and therefore, pure Sussex. Its exquisite tune rises gracefully like the South Downs, and although its story doesn’t quite reconcile into a happy ending, it is certainly an optimistic one. In his book, A Song for Every Season, Bob Copper recalled his Uncle John singing it as he tended his bees.
“Wearing a straw hat, yellow with age, and draped round a piece of lace curtain tied under his chin and pierced conveniently to admit the stem of his favourite briar pipe, he could be seen moving quietly and gently among the white-painted hives, softly singing all the while one or another of the old songs…
As I walked out one midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-e-roses.
Jon Boden sang Banks of Sweet Primroses as the 22 June 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He commented in the blog:
This I learnt for a tribute concert to Fred Jordan at Cecil Sharp House shortly after his death. I missed out on hearing him sing sadly, but love his voice.
Dave Townsend and Gill Redmond sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 2012 on their WildGoose CD New Road to Alston. They noted:
Phil Tanner ‘The Gower Nightingale’ sang this vital rhythmic version of the song more familiar in the Copper Family’s Sussex rendition. Favourite line—“and don’t be so deceitful!”
Andy Turner sang Banks of the Sweet Primroses as the 26 August 2012 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. He commented in his blog:
To start the second year of the blog, here’s the quintessential rural English folk song.
It’s only in the last few years that I’ve actually added this to my repertoire. I found myself humming the tune to myself on an increasingly frequent basis and, since I seemed to have picked up most of the words by osmosis, decided I really ought to learn it. The words I sing are more or less as sung by the Copper Family. My tune is similar to their version too; although, as pointed out in the notes to the song in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (a truly excellent publication—every home should have one), this is one of relatively few English folk songs which always seem to have been sung to pretty much the same tune..
Chris Wood, Ben Mandelson, Lisa Knapp, Gerry Diver, Mavrika, Catrin Finch, Seckou Keita, Spiro, Mojmir Novakovic, Olivia Chaney, B.J. Cole, Eliza Carthy, and Martha Mavroidi sang The Banks of the Sweet Primeroses on 14 March 2014 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. A recording of this concert was published in 2018 on the CD supporting the 2018 Save fRoots crowdfunding campaign, Bridges.
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker recorded The Banks of the Sweet Primroses for the fRoots April 2015 digital download album fRoots 53. This track was also included in 2019 on Topic’s 80th year anthology, Vision & Revision. They sang it live at the BBC 2 Folk Awards 2015:
Anna Baldwin sang The Banks of Sweet Primroses on Amsher’s 2018 album of Hampshire songs collected by Lucy Broadwood in Oxfordshire, Patience Vaisey at Adwell 1892. Bob Askew noted:
A lovely song that was hugely popular in England. A man encounters a young woman, but is refused. Closer examination reveals the text to be complex and ambiguous.
Kirsty Merryn sang The Banks of the Sweet Primroses in 2020 on her album Our Bright Night.
Lyrics
Phil Tanner sings The Banks of the Sweet Primroses
O as I walked out one mid-summer’s morning,
For to view the fields and the flowers so gay,
𝄆 ’Twas there on the banks of the sweet primroses,
That I beheld a most pleasant maid. 𝄇
I said, “Fair maid what make you wonder?
What is the cause of all your grief?
𝄆 I will make you as happy as any lady,
If you will grant me one small relief.” 𝄇
“Stand off young man and don’t be so deceitful,
For it is you that is the cause of all my pain.
𝄆 It is you that have caused my poor heart to wander,
And to find me comfort it’s all in vain. 𝄇
“I will go down to some lonely valley,
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
𝄆 Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind.” 𝄇
So come all fair maidens from me take warning,
and pay attention to what I say:
𝄆 There’s many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out a bright and sunshiny day. 𝄇
The Copper Family sing Banks of the Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one midsummer morning
For to view the fields and to take the air,
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-e-roses
There I beheld a most lovely fair.
Three long steps I stepp-ed up to her,
Not knowing her as she passed me by,
I stepp-ed up to her thinking for to view her,
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid, where are you going,
And what’s the occasion for all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me once more a leave.”
She said, “Stand off, you are deceitful,
You are deceitful and a false young man,
It is you that’s caused my poor heart for to wander,
And to give me comfort lies all in vain.
“I’ll go down in some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth shall e’er me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices,
And every moment blows blusterous winds.”
Come all young men that go a-courting,
Pray pay attention to what I say.
There is many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sun-shiny day.
George Belton sings Banks of the Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one midsummer’s morning
A-viewing the meadows and to take the air,
Down by the banks of sweet primaroses
There I beheld a most lovely fair.
With three long steps I stepped up to her
Not knowing her as she passed me by,
I stepped up to her, thinking to view her;
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid, where are you going?
Or what’s the reason for all your grief?
I can make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, you are deceitful,
You are deceitful, young man, ‘tis plain.
It’s you that’s caused my poor heart for to wander,
And to give me comfort it’s all in vain.”
I’ll take thee down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth there can e’er me tell,
Where the pretty birds have all changed their voices
And every moment their notes do swell.
So come all you young men that go a-courting
Pray give attention to what I say.
For there’s is many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sunshiny day.
Fred Jordan sings The Banks of Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one fine summer’s morning
For to view the countryside and take the air.
As I walked down by the banks of the sweet primroses
I met a lady beautiful and fair.
Three short steps I took up to her,
Not knowing me she passed me by.
I drew up to her, thinking to view her,
She appeared to be like a virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid, where are you walking?
O what is the occasion of all your grief?
I’ll make you as happy as any lady
If you will only grant me small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, you are deceitful,
A false deceitful man, to me it’s plain.
It’s you that’s caused my poor heart to wander
To give me comfort it is all in vain.
“I’ll go down to some lonesome dwelling
Where no man on earth shall there me find,
Where all the birds have changed their voices
And at every moment boisterous blows the wind.”
So all young maidens that go a-courting
Pray give attention to what I say,
For many a dark and dreary morning
Turns out to be a bright and sunny day.
Shirley Collins sings The Sweet Primeroses
As I rode out one midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air.
Down by the banks of the sweet primeroses,
There I beheld a most lovely fair
With three long steps I stepped up to her
Not knowing her as she passed me by.
I stepped up to her thinking for to view her
She appeared to me like a virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid, where are you going?
O what’s the occasion for all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief.”
She said, “Stand off, you are deceitful,
You are deceitful and a false young man.
It is you that’s caused my poor heart for to wander
And to give me comfort is all in vain.”
“I will go down in some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth shall e’er me find,
Where the pretty little songbirds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous winds.”
Come all you young men that go a-courting,
Pray you give attention to what I say?
There is many’s the dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a most sunshiny day.
Harry Green sings Banks of the Sweet Primroses
Stand off, stand off for you are deceitful,
You are a false and deceitful man,
It’s you that’s caused my poor heart to wander,
And to give me comfort, it’s all in vain.
So we’ll go down in some lonesome valleys,
Where a man on earth shall ever be found,
Where the pretty little small birds shall change their voices,
And every moment blow blustering wind.
Martin Carthy sings Banks of Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one fine summer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air,
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-a-roses
There I beheld a most wondrous fair.
O three long steps I stepped up to her,
Not knowing her as she passed me by.
I stepped up to her thinking for to view her,
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
I says, “Fair maid, where are you going?
And what’s the occasion of all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, you are the false deceiver,
You are the false deceitful man I know ’tis plain.
For it is you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And in your comfort lies no refrain.”
“So I’ll go down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind.
So come all young men who go a-sailing,
Pray pay attention to what I say.
For there’s many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sunshiny day.
Bob Hart sings The Banks of the Sweet Primroses
As I strolled out one summer’s morning,
To view the fields and to take the air,
Down by the banks of sweet primroses;
There I beheld a most lovely maid.
Three long steps, O, I took up to her,
Not knowing me, oh, she passed me by.
I stepped up to her, thinking to view her,
She appeared to be like some virtuous bride.
I said,“Fair maiden, where are you going?
On what occasion all is thy grief?
I’ll make you as happy as any lady,
If you will grant me some small relief.”
“Stand back, stand back, oh, you are deceitful.
You are a false deceitful man, ’tis plain.
It’s you that’s caused my poor heart to wander;
To give me comfort would be all in vain.
“I’ll go away to some lonesome valley,
And there no man, oh, shall e’er me find.
Until the pretty birds change their voices,
And every moment shall blow boistrious winds.”
Now all ye fair maids who go a-courting,
Just pay attention to what I say.
There’s many a dark and a cloudy morning,
Turns out to be a bright and sunny day.
Rebecca Penfold sings The Banks of Sweet Primroses
As I walked out on one midsummer’s morning
Just to view those fields and to take fresh air,
It was down by the banks of the sweet primroses
Where I beheld a most lovely girl.
O three long steps that I stepped up to her.
Not a-knowing me she did pass me by.
I stepped up to her thinking for to view her,
She appeared to me like some virgin’s bride.
I said, “Fair lady, where are you a-going
And what’s the accausions of all your grief?
I will make you so happy as any lady,
If you’ll only grant me your small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, you false and deceitful.
What a false and deceitful young man you have been to me.
It is you that have caused my poor heart for to wander,
And to bring my comforts it’s all in vain.
“Now, I’ll go down in some lonesome valley
Where no man or mortal shall never be found,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blow blossom my way.”
Now, all young men that do go a-courting,
Come and pay attention to what I have to say.
There is many of a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sunshiny day.
Tony Rose sings Banks of the Sweet Primroses
Now as I walked out on a midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air.
Down by the banks of the sweet primroses,
There I beheld a most lovely fair.
Three short steps I took up to her,
Not knowing her as she passed me by.
I stepped up to her thinking to view her,
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
O I said, “Fair maid, where can you be going?
And what’s the occasion of all your grief?
I’ll make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant to me one small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, you’re a false deceiver,
You are a false deceitful man, ’tis very plain.
’Tis you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And to give comfort is all in vain.”
“So I’ll go down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows a blusterous wind.
So come all young men that goes a-courting,
Pray pay attention to what I say:
For there is many’s a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a bright sunshiny day.
Blue Murder sing The Banks of Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and the flowers so gay,
’Twas there on the banks of the sweet primroses
That I beheld a most pleasant maid.
Three long steps I stepped up to her,
Not knowing her as she passed me by.
I stepped up to her thinking for to view her,
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid, what makes you wander?
What is the cause of all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief.”
“Stand off, young man, and don’t be so deceitful,
For ’tis you that has caused all my pain.
It is you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And to fine me comfort it’s all in vain.”
“I will go down to some lonely valley
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
𝄆 Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind. 𝄇
June Tabor sings Banks of the Sweet Primroses
As I walked out on a midsummer’s morning
To view the field and to take the air.
Down by the banks of the sweet prim-a-roses,
’Twas there I beheld a most lovely fair.
I said, “Fair maid, and why do you wander?
And what’s the occasion of all your grief?
I’ll make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief.”
“Stand off, stand off, for you are deceitful,
You are the false deceiving young man, ’tis plain.
’Tis you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And to give me comfort lies all in vain.”
“O I’ll go down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth there shall me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind.”
So come all young men with a mind for courting,
Won’t you pay attention to what I say?
For there’s many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a bright sunshiny day.
Martyn Wyndham-Read sings The Banks of Sweet Primroses
As I walked out one midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air,
Down by the banks of the sweet primroses
There I beheld a most lovely fair.
Three long steps I stepped up to her,
Not knowing her as she passed me by.
I stepped up to her thinking to view her,
She appeared to me like some virtuous bride.
I said, “Fair maid where are you going?
And what’s the occasion for all your grief?
I would make you happy as any lady
If you will grant me once more a leave.”
She said, “Stand off, you are deceitful,
You are deceitful and a false young man.
It’s you that’s caused my poor heart to wander
And to give me comfort lies all in vain.
“I will go down in some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth shall e’er me find,
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows a blusterous wind.”
Come all young men that goes a courting,
I pray pay attention to what I say.
There is many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a bright sunshiny day.