> Folk Music > Songs > Fair Maids of February

Fair Maids of February

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 19782 ; Robin and Barry Dransfield]

Robin Dransfield sang his own song Fair Maids of February in 1980 on his Topic album Tidewave, which was reissued in 2008 as the first CD of his double album A Lighter Touch. He noted:

Fair Maids of February is an old country expression for snowdrops. The particular snowdrops in question tried valiantly to bring themselves into the world in a difficult environment outside my North London flat, but only the leaves managed it. A similar thing happens with some North London humans. The idea for this song came from listening to Tom Forrest on The Archers, who impressed me greatly with the aptness of this rural nickname for such charismatic flowers. Little brother Bazza helped with the lyrics.

Jenn Butterworth sang Fair Maids of February on her 2025 album Her by Design.

Lyrics

Robin Dransfield sings Fair Maids of February

Fair maids of February, why don’t you come out today?
Fair maids of February, why don’t you come out to play?
Oh we’ve seen you, oh, we’ve seen you
When the air was sweet and made us grow
From the fastness of winter,
the first flower to venture
And now we’re lying beneath the snow

Our dresses are torn and tattered,
There’s nothing here you’d wish to see
Our faces are lined with sorrow
I’m sure you would agree
We used to love dancing, we used to love dancing
So many. many years ago
But with no-one to court us, our courage has left us
And now we’re dying beneath the snow

But we are rooted, we are your children
We don’t have the power to choose
So take heed in February, or your fate will be like ours
Oh, we told you, oh, we told you
So many, many times before
But you didn’t believe us and you’ll never believe us
And now we’re dying beneath the snow

(Repeat first verse)