Madge / Just Tell Them That You Saw Me

[ Roud 3528 ; Ballad Index Dean124 ; Paul Dresser (1857-1906)]

Will Noble sang Madge in a recording made by John Howson at Oxspring, Yorkshire in 1992. It was released in the same year on his Veteran Tapes cassette of South-West Yorkshire songs, In That Beautiful Dale, and was included in 2006 on the Veteran anthology of English traditional folk singers, It Was on a Market Day—One, on which Mike Yates noted:

Will had this Music Hall song from Clifford Robinson, a gamekeeper from the Holme Valley. The only other collected version seems to have been in 1962, when the Canadian collector Edith Fowke noted a set from Vince O’Toole of Peterborough, Ontario.

Lyrics

Will Noble sings Madge

Whilst walking down the street one day upon my pleasure bent
Was after business worries of the day,
I met a girl who shrank from me, in her I recognised
A schoolmate from the village far away.
“Is that you, Madge?” I said to her. She quickly turned away.
“Don’t turn away, Madge, for I’m still your friend.
Tonight I’m going back home again to see the old folks and
Perhaps some message you would like to send.”

Chorus:
Just tell them that you’ve seen me and they will know the rest.
Just tell them that I’m looking well, you know.
And whisper if you get a chance, to mother dear and say
I love her as I did long, long ago.

“Your cheeks are pale, your eyes are dim, pray tell me are you ill,
When last I saw you they shone clear and bright.
Oh, won’t you come back home again, the change would do you good
Your mother wonders where you are tonight.”
“I’m gong to go back home again, but not just yet, you know.
It’s pride alone that’s keeping me away.
Tell them not to worry, for I’m all right, you know,
Just tell them I’ll be coming home some day.”