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Pretty Nancy

[Jean Ritchie]

Jean Ritchie sang Pretty Nancy on her 1971 album Clear Waters Remembered. The sleeve notes state that all titles on the album were written by her, even though a good part of them are clearly traditional. I don’t find any other source for this song so this one may be hers.

Jean Ritchie sings Pretty Nancy

Oh my sweet lovin’ Nancy
Would you think it unkind
For me to sit down by you
And tell you my mind

My mind is to marry
And never to part
The first time I saw you
You wounded my heart

Purty Nancy, Purty Nancy
My sad tears will flow
For my sweet lovin’ Nancy
Wherever I go

In North Carolinee
I was bred and was born
And in that same country
I bore all the storm

In eighteen and twenty
And when I was young
Amongst all the true lovers
It is there I saw mine

I giv’ed her features
That please me most well
And I was bound to her
My mind for to tell

She quick-like consented
My bride for to be
But her parents weren’t willin’
For her to wed me

Purty Nancy, Purty Nancy
My sad tears will flow
For my sweet lovin’ Nancy
Wherever I go

She hung down her dear head
With tears in her eyes
Lamenting her condition
Lamenting she cried

O I am a poor girl
And bound to my home
And I’ve duly been courted
By the wagoner alone

Your horses are hungry
Go feed them some hay
Come sit yourself by me
What time you can stay

My horses ain’t hungry
They don’t need your hay
So farewell my Nancy
There’s no time to stay

Purty Nancy, Purty Nancy
My sad tears will flow
For my sweet lovin’ Nancy
Wherever I go

So let us part weeping
On the new river’s shore
Fare you well my own true love
I’ll see you no more

I’ll think of my fiddle
And rosin or bow
And make myself welcome
Wherever I go

Purty Nancy, Purty Nancy
My sad tears will flow
For my sweet lovin’ Nancy
Wherever I go