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The Brisk Young Sailor / Died for Love

[ Roud 60 ; Master title: The Brisk Young Sailor ; Laws P25 ; G/D 6:1169, 6:1170 ; Henry H683 ; Ballad Index LP25 ; VWML LEB/2/65/3 , AGG/3/59f , AGG/8/12 ; GlosTrad Roud 60 ; Go Dig My Grave / Died for Love / The Butcher Boy at Fire Draw Near ; DT DIEDLOVE , DIEDLOV3 ; Mudcat 161176 ; trad.]

Lucy E. Broadwood: English Traditional Songs and Carols Norman Buchan: 101 Scottish Songs Alan Helsdon: Vaughan Williams in Norfolk Gale Huntington: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Frank Kidson: Traditional Tunes Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger: Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland Patrick O’Shaughnessy Twenty-One Lincolnshire Folk Songs Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs Folk Songs Collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams Songs of the Midlands James Porter and Herschel Gower: Jeannie Robertson: Emergent Singer, Transformative Voice James Reeves: The Idiom of the People Stephen Sedley: The Seeds of Love Cecil J. Sharp One Hundred English Folksongs

Joseph Taylor sang Died for Love on a wax cylinder recording made by Percy Grainger in 1908 [VWML LEB/2/65/3] ; this was released in 1972 on the LP Unto Brigg Fair.

Isla Cameron’s version of Died for Love on the Alan Lomax Collection album of 1955, World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England, and Martin Carthy’s version both have one verse the other is missing and a different verse order. She also sang it in 1962 on her and Tony Britton’s Transatlantic album Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living. This track was included in 1966 on the Transatlantic anthology The Best of British Folk Music and in 2004 on the Transatlantic Folk Box Set.

A.L. Lloyd sang Died for Love, in 1956 on his Riverside LP English Street Songs. This track was also included in 2008 on his Fellside anthology Ten Thousand Miles Away. He noted:

Sometimes the girl in this ballad is the sweetheart of a brisk young sailor, sometimes her lover is a wagoner or a postman or a butcher boy, or even, in later texts, a railroad man. Whatever his profession, most versions agree that he broke the girl’s heart and she ordered a marble dove for a grave ornament. Versions of this ballad range the scale of the emotions from candid tragedy to broad burlesque, but as a rule, the street singers took it genuinely to heart, and, as some of them had it, it was a ballad of stark beauty.

Shirley Collins sang Died for Love on her 1960 album False True Lovers. Strangely, she left out the Died for Love stanza. Alan Lomax commented in the album’s sleeve notes:

From Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson. Died for Love is perhaps the most beautiful of the many variants of the important British folk song, most familiar to us as The Butcher’s Boy or There is a Tavern in the Town, or in Woody Guthrie’s Hard, Ain’t It Hard. This Northern English variant points to one of the most important differences between British and American love-songs. Typically in the English love song there is an amorous encounter between a young man and the young woman, and though the girl is often betrayed, she expresses in her song a trace of the real pleasure that she experienced. Even more importantly, she has a baby; and, through her melancholy, there lingers note of procreative joy. Very frequently in these songs the boy returns to marry her when he discovers that she is about to bear him a child. American singers were more prudish; they censored out the pregnancy theme; and the betrayed girl was left to brood over the transiency of love and sigh for death to heal her heartbreak.

Shirley Bland sang A Bold Young Farmer in 1962 on Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor with the Galliard’s Decca album A Rovin’, and she sang it, accompanied by Davy Graham, on the Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 26 October 1963.

Tom Willett sang Died for Love in 1962 at the age of 84 on the Willett Family’s Topic album The Roving Journeymen. The album’s notes commented:

This favourite lyrical song has been often collected and is still sung in many parts of the countryside. The flower symbolism is sexual and may be compared with that found in such songs as The Seeds of Love; for instance, ‘rose’ in verse one or Mr Willett’s song clearly refers to virginity.

The country poet John Clare re-made the text of this song into his handsome poem A Faithless Shepherd. A student re-make is There is a Tavern in the Town.

The tune used by Mr Willett—one of many tunes attached to this song—is related to the melody used by (perhaps adapted by) the mid-19^th century stage comedian Sam Cowell in his burlesque version of the ballad of Lord Lovel. Several of Cowell’s tunes gained enormous currency in the towns and villages (e.g. Villikins and His Dinah).

Sarah Porter sang Died for Love at The Three Cups in Punnetts Town in 1965. This recording made by Brian Matthews was included in 2001 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs from country pubs, Just Another Saturday Night. Rod Stradling noted:

A song everyone knows, even today in the right company, so it’s no surprise that there are 225 Roud entries, or that 45 of these are sound recordings, encompassing almost every singer you care to think of—though only Jasper Smith, May Bradley, Geoff Ling, Amy Birch and Emma Vickers have made it onto CD.

Closer to the truth is that everyone knows a version of it, because it’s one of those songs which attracts ‘floating verses’ like a magnet, while being alarmingly close to countless other songs which musicologists tell us are actually different. Who cares—it’s a great wallow in almost any circumstances!

Hedy West sang Down in Adairsville in 1967 on her Topic album Ballads. A.L. Lloyd noted:

This is one of the two songs that Hedy West’s great aunt Jane Mulkey, of Pickens County, Georgia, would sing after long coaxing. In America it’s usually called The Butcher Boy or In Jersey City. In England it’s more familiar under the title Died for Love. It is in fact a sequence of verses lifted from four or five separate ballads and strung together to make a lyrical sequence. It has been a huge favourite among folk singers in Britain and America for two hundred years, reprinted over and again in broadsides and songbooks. One of its sundry re-makes is the student song: There is a Tavern in the Town. In various versions, the faithless lover appears as a farmer’s boy, butcher boy, sailor boy, rambling boy, gambling boy, and even (in Essex) a postman boy. Singers who recorded the song include the crooner Rudy Vallee, who claimed authorship.

Norman Kennedy sang A Student Boy Cam’ Courting Me in 1968 on his Folk-Legacy album, Ballads & Songs of Scotland and with the title I Wish, I Wish on the album’s UK issue on Topic, Scots Songs and Ballads. Peter Hall noted:

This is a version of I Wish, I Wish, one of the most widespread of songs in the English speaking world. The universality of the theme of the abandoned pregnant girl and its striking and sensitive expression accounts for the great popularity of the many variants of the song. In Aberdeenshire more distinctly local settings of the song exist but this is by far the most popular type. Norman says, “I heard this from a woman in Fyvie when I was about 12, during the time I was helping with the harvest at a relation’s croft.”

A recording of Queen Caroline Hughes singing Died for Love, made by Peter Kennedy in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset, on 19 April 1968 was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of Southern English gypsy traditional singers, I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Volume 22). The album’s booklet quoted:

“Blind beetles!” exclaimed Peter Kennedy. “Why did she want to be like a blind beetle?” “Well,” said Caroline, “because he courted her and he got her in trouble, and he sent her a flower picking to court another girl, you see … He courted this other girl and took her to the ale-house. He thought more of she than what he did of she and he slighted she to have she. So she said she’d sooner be a blind beetle than seek his company again. So would I. Wouldn’t you?”

Lemmie Brazil played A Bold Fisherman Courted Me on her melodeon to Peter Shepheard at her caravan on Christmas 1968. And Danny Brazil sang A Bold Fisherman Courted Me to Gwilym Davies at Staveton, Gloucestershire, in April 1978. Both recordings were included in 2007 on the Brazil Family’s Musical Traditions anthology Down by the Old Riverside. Rod Stradling noted:

This was also sung by Lemmie. Actually, it’s that acme of ‘floating verse’ songs, Died for Love. Indeed, I don’t know how scholars figure out what is and what isn’t with this, as almost every floater I’ve ever heard can be found in one version or another of Died for Love. It’s also a very popular song with 190 Roud entries, the great majority of which come from England. The Brazil Family’s version appears to be unique in mentioning a ‘bold fisherman’ as the male principal.

Martin Carthy sang Died for Love unaccompanied on his 1969 album with Dave Swarbrick, Prince Heathen. He also sang it in a BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session recorded on 22 May and first broadcast on 30 May 1972. He noted on his album:

It has been suggested that this is a fragment of a much longer ballad but this is really immaterial when what you have stands perfectly well on its own. Taken from the Grainger collection of Lincolnshire songs, from the singing of Joseph Taylor.

Alf Wildman sang Died for Love at the King’s Head Folk Club in London on 25 February 1970. This recording was included in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology King’s Head Folk Club. Rod Stradling noted:

A song everyone knows—even today in the right company—so it’s no surprise that there are 249 Roud entries, or that 46 of these are sound recordings, encompassing almost every singer you care to think of. Closer to the truth is that everyone knows a version of it, because it’s one of those songs which attracts ‘floating verses’ like a magnet, while being alarmingly close to countless other songs which musicologists tell us are actually different. Who cares—it’s a great wallow in almost any circumstances!

Geoff Ling sang Died for Love in a recording made by Keith Summers Keith Summers in Cyril Poacher’s home in Stone Common, Blaxhall, Sussex, on 17 December 1974. It was published in 1977 on the Ling Family’s Topic album Singing Traditions of a Suffolk Family, and it was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology Who’s That at My Bed Window? (The Voice of the People Volume 10).

Linda Adams sang this song as A Brisk Young Sailor in 1975 on her and Paul Adams’ Sweet Folk and Country album of songs and ballads of Cumbria, Far Over the Fell. Linda and Susan Adams also sang it on the 2001 Fellside anthology Voices in Harmony. This track was also included in 2005 on the Fellside sampler Cutting Edge. Paul Adams noted:

A very widespread song with a number of titles: I Wish I Wish; Died for Love; The Alehouse in the Town. There is a school of thought which believes that this is a fragment of another song. It is worth noting, but loses importance at it makes a good song on its own. This version was collected by Ann Gilchrist from a 70 year old carpenter, Mr James Bayliff of Bardon, Westmorland in 1909. [VWML AGG/3/59f, AGG/8/12] ; It possesses a fine Dorian Mode tune.

Son Townsend sang Near Woodstock Town to Mike Yates Freda Palmer’s home in Witney, Oxfordshire in 1975. This recording was included in 2015 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs from the Mike Yates collections, I Wish There Was No Prisons. Mike Yates noted:

This song, complete in itself, is actually the first part of a longer 18^th century broadside ballad, which is also known as The Oxfordshire Tragedy (a copy exists in the Bodleian Library in Oxford). It will be seen that Son Townsend’s set comprises the first six stanzas.

The first six stanzas, which Son sings, were later reprinted in J. L. Hatton & Eaton Fannings’s two volume book The Songs of England (Boosey & Co., London and New York) in 1879, and it would seem likely that Son picked the song up, directly or indirectly, from this later publication. Some stanzas also turn up in others songs, such as Since Love Has Brought Me to Despair.

It has been suggested that the ballad may be based on the story of Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I who, in 1560, was found dead at the foot of some stairs at Cumnor Place, Oxfordshire, a building which happens to be ‘near Woodstock town’. Some say that she died of a broken heart, others that she was murdered by her husband. Whatever the cause, Amy’s ghost was said to have appeared in front of Dudley when he was hunting one day in Combury Park. She apparently warned him that he would die within ten days, and, in fact, he did!

Derek, Dorothy and Nadine Elliott sang A Brisk Young Sailor in 1976 on their Traditional Sound album Yorkshire Relish.

Jim Mageean and Johnny Collins sang Died for Love in 1979 on their Sweet Folk and Country album Make the Rafters Roar. They noted:

This is a Royal Navy version of a very old English ballad. The tune, which seems to have music hall origins, has carried many sets of words varying from serious ballads to rugby songs.

Jacqui McShee sang A Bold Young Farmer in 1980 on the John Renbourn Group’s Transatlantic album The Enchanted Garden. Pentangle also sang it at Queen Elizabeth Hall in September 1988 in a BBC Radio 2 recording that was included in 2022 on their 6 CD anthology Through the Ages. John Renbourn noted on his album:

This is another very popular theme in traditional folk music. A young woman, pregnant and forsaken by the child’s father. In her shame and grief she wished herself dead, but, that her baby should be born and to be claimed by her lover. Isla Cameron sings a very fine version of this song, which can be heard on a Transatlantic album, Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living.

David Savage from Blaxhall, Suffolk, sang Brisk Young Sailor in a recording made by John Howson in 1993. It was included in 2011 on the Veteran anthology CD of traditional folk music, songs and stories from England and Ireland, Stepping It Out Again!. John Howson noted:

A widespread song in England, Ireland, Scotland and North America, with over two hundred different references in the Roud folk song database. Often called Bold/Brisk Young Farmer/Lover / The Alehouse/Tavern in the Town / I Wish My Baby It Was Born or simply and probably most commonly Died for Love. Often the song starts with verses about a father finding his daughter hanged and then continues with story we have here and a similar version published in Roy Palmer’s Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs (Dent 1979) continues with a final verse of:

I wish, I wish but it’s all in vain,
I wish I was a maid again,
But a maid again I never will be,
’Til an apple grows on an orange tree.

Another similar rendition to David’s can be heard sung by his cousin Geoff Ling on TSCD660 Who’s That at My Bed Window? In England this song was popular with the Gypsy community and in the West Country it is often called Over Yonder’s Hill. Versions in this form can be heard sung by Jean Orchard (who learned it from her mother Amy Birch) in Devon (VT151CD Holsworthy Fair) and Viv Legg, in Cornwall (VT153CD, Romany Roots).

Alison McMorland sang A Foolish Young Girl in 1977 on her Tangent album, Belt Wi’ Colours Three. Hamish Henderson noted:

Jean Elvin of Turriff recorded this version of Died or Love in 1952, and Alison found it while listening to recordings of Aberdeenshire songs in the archives of the School of Scottish Studies. She writes that “it has such a transparent quality that it is very easy to imagine generations of young girls singing it”. The student lover who speaks broad Scots when courting a country lassie (after speaking stylish English on the campus) is an eminently convincing plausible character.

Sisters Unlimited sang My True Love Once He Courted Me in 1991 on their Harbourtown album No Limits. They noted:

The pattern of sexual encounter, pregnancy and rejection is a familiar theme in traditional songs, and of course, in our lives. My True Love Once is a particularly full and poignant piece from North Yorkshire and can be found in Frank Kidson’s Traditional Tunes. Echoes of its various motifs occur in such diverse pieces as There is a Tavern in the Town and the blues standard, Careless Love.

John Roberts & Tony Barrand sang Died for Love in 1998 on their CD of English folksongs collected by Percy Grainger, Heartoutbursts. They noted:

This poignant little song comes from Joseph Taylor. It is closely related to laments such as O Waly Waly, The Butcher Boy, I Wish I Wish, and, in a lighter student vein, There is a Tavern in the Town.

Bill Jones sang A Brisk Young Sailor on her 2000 album Turn to Me.

Will Duke and Dan Quinn sang Died for Love in 2001 on their Hebe album Scanned. They noted:

Died For Love came from a snippet sung by a Cambridgeshire traveller, Frank O’Connor, and was embellished by some of the words sung by the Willett family.

Jim Causley sang Yonders Hill (Blind Beetles) in 2005 on his WildGoose album Fruits of the Earth. He noted:

This beautifully quirky tale of rejection came from a precious tape of the Dorset gypsy singer Queen Caroline Hughes, kindly lent to me by […] Norma Waterson. It knocked me over backwards when I first heard it and I can’t believe more people don’t sing it. Big love to John [Dipper] for playing as beautifully as the song.

Jean Orchard sang Over Yonder’s Hill on the Orchard Family’s 2005 Veteran album Holsworthy Fair. John Howson noted:

Jean learned this song from her from her grandmother Dehlia Crocker. It is often called Down in the Meadow and it was under this title that it was recorded from Jean’s mother Amy Birch by Sam Richards, Paul Wilson and Tish Stubbs. That recording can be heard on Topic TSCD661 My Father’s the King of the Gypsies under the title Over Yonder’s Hill. This was a popular song all over England, with 252 entries in the Roud folk song index. It was particularly widespread within the Gypsy communities and another version can be heard on TSCD661 sung by Surrey/Kent traveller Jasper Smith. As with this version his contains a number of floating verses from other songs which are added at will.

Viv Legg sang On Yonder Hill on his 2006 Veteran album Romany Roots. John Howson noted:

When Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger collected a version of this song from the West Country Gypsy Caroline Hughes they were able to say that, “There is a large group of love lamentations which have enough verses in common to be called a ‘family’. They are all based upon a man’s infidelity to his avowed lover and have been collected widely in England, Scotland and (to a lesser extent) the United States.” (Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland, 1977, pp. 194-98.) On first glance On Yonder Hill appears to be a collection of so called ‘floating verses’, but, as several West Country Gypsies have been recorded singing the song in almost identical versions, we can only conclude that we must now consider it to be a specific song. See, for example, the versions sung by Amy Birch (Topic TSCD661) and Jean Orchard (Veteran VT151CD).

Hannah James and Sam Sweeney recorded Died for Love in 2009 for their first duo CD, Catches & Glees.

Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell sang Down in Adairsville in 2011 on their RabbleRouser album Kite.

Grace Notes sang A Brisk Young Sailor in 2012 on their anniversary album 20. Helen Hockenhull commented in their liner notes:

I found the song A Brisk Young Sailor in a collection of folk songs compiled by Cecil Sharp entitled One Hundred English Folk Songs. In his notes Sharp explains that there are many variants of this song and he has compiled this version from several texts.

Alice Jones sang My True Love Once He Courted Me in 2014 on her and Pete Coe‘s album celebration the legacy of collector Frank Kidson, The Search for Five Finger Frank. Frank Kidson printed this in his 1891 book Traditional Tunes; the tune was collected from Charles Lolley and the lyrics from Mr Halliday of Newtondale, North Yorkshire

Sam Lee sang Over Yonder’s Hill, learnt from the Birch Family of Cornwall, in 2014 on his Nest Collective EP More for to Rise and in 2015 on his Nest Collective album The Fade in Time.

Rosie Upton sang Died for Love in 2014 on her CD Basket of Oysters. She noted:

It’s little more than a collection of floating verses or fragments from other folk songs. A sad and familiar story that happens all too often and the young girl sees no alternative but to end her own life. There would have been few options in the past for someone in this predicament—possibly the workhouse or other institution, and the child, if it survived, taken from her.

Steve Tilston sang Died for Love on his 2015 album Truth to Tell.

Dempsey Robson Tweed sang Near Woodstock Town on their 2016 CD Dirt Road. Kevin Dempsey noted:

Near Woodstock Town is a lovely 17^th Century song from Oxfordshire. Apart from Percy Grainger I don’t know of anyone else who has recorded it. Polly Bolton introduced me to the song in the back of a Ford Transit in 1970 on the way to a gig.

Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar sang Brisk Young Man in 2016 on their Fellside album The Silent Majority. Greg Russell noted:

Reading through a copy The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs I stumbled across this song. I liked the story, but I can’t read music and thus couldn’t read the tune. I’d also never heard a version of the song. So I decided I’d write it a new tune and after that decided I’d change a few words too, to make it even more memorable than the original. The original song was collected by Cecil Sharp in 1908.

Kelly Oliver sang Died of Love on her 2018 CD Botany Bay. She noted:

A woman’s grief at allowing a sailor to court her and impregnate her, only for him to choose another woman in the end. She longs to die and leave her baby with him.

Debbie Chalmers sang Died for Love in 2018 on Stepling’s album Leap. They noted:

Deb learnt this traditional song from Nonny Tabbush, but there are multiple versions, floating verses, and several titles all alluding to the same song and tragic theme. This version shares the same melody and some verses as collected from the singing of Joseph Taylor by Percy Grainger and Lucy Broadwood in 1908.

Emily Portman and Rob Harbron sang Borstal Boy on their 2022 album Time Was Away. They noted:

The words to this song are taken directly from graffiti on the toilet wall of a youth centre known as the Bug Hut, in the Mangravet housing estate, Maidstone, Kent. This graffiti was noticed and photographed by folk song collector Simon Evans and included in the EFDSS “Root and Branch” project. The graffiti is an adaptation of the traditional song Died for Love, referring to the local youth detention centres, known as Borstals. Emily set the words to her favourite Died for Love melody, from Lincolnshire singer, Joseph Taylor. With young male offenders still being amongst the most at risk of taking their own lives, it seems that this song is a relevant now as it has ever been.

Seb Stone sang The Alehouse on his 2024 album Young Tamlyn’s Away.He noted:

I learned this from the singing of Tom Willett, another traveller singer, whose voice can be heard at the end of the track. That recording is from the Ken Stubbs field collection, reproduced with the permission of Steve Roud and the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. This track features the lovely playing of Ray Cunningham on melodeon.

Lyrics

Joseph Taylor sings Died for Love

I wish my baby it-e-was born
Lying smiling on its father’s knee
And I was dead and in my grave
And green grass growing all over me

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain
I wish I was a maid again
But a maid again that never can be
Since that-e-young farmer sat wooing me

Dig me my grave long wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
But a turtle dove put over above
For to let the world know that I died for love

Isla Cameron sings Died for Love

A bold young farmer courted me
He gained my heart and my liberty.
He’s gained my heart with a free good will
And I must confess that I love him still.

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain,
I wish I was a maid again.
But a maid again, that never can be
Since that young farmer lay still with me.

I wish my baby little was born
And smiling on his father’s knee;
And I was dead and in my grave
And the green grass growing all over me.

Dig me my grave long wide and deep,
Put a marble stone at my head and feet.
But a turtle white dove put over above
For to let the world know that I died for love.

Shirley Collins sings Died for Love

O once my true love courted me
And stole away my liberty.
He gained my heart with a free good will
And I’ll confess I love him still.

O there’s an alehouse in this town,
Where my love goes and sits him down;
He takes this strange girl on his knee
And isn’t that a grief to me.

O there’s a bird in yon churchyard,
They say he’s blind and cannot see;
I wish it had been the same with me
Before I kept my love’s company.

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain,
I wish I was but free again.
But free again I’ll never be
Since I have kept my love’s company.

Tom Willett sings Died for Love

It’s down the green meadow where the poor girls they roam
A-gathering flowers just as they grow
She gathered her flowers and way she came
But she left the sweetest rose behind

There is a flower that I’ve heard say
That never dies nor fades away
But if that flower I could only find
I’d ease my heart and torment his mind

There is an alehouse where my love goes
Where my love goes and sits himself down
He takes a strange girl on his knee
Now don’t you think that’s a grief to me

A grief and a grief, I’ll tell you for why
Because she’s got more gold than I
But her gold will glitter, her silver will fly
And in a short time she’ll be as poor as I

My love he is tall and handsome too
My love he is tall and slender too
But carries two hearts in the room of one
Won’t he be a rogue when I’m dead and gone

Now dig my grave both long and deep
A marble stone, both head and feet
And in the middle a turtle dove
To show the wide world I died for love

Sarah Porter sings Died for Love

There is an alehouse down in the town
Where my love oftimes sets hisself down
Some other flash girl he may take on his knee
And don’t you think that’s a grief to me.

A grief to me, I’ll tell you for why
Because she’s got more gold than I
Her gold will waste and her beauty will fly
And in a short time she’ll be poorer than I.

I wish the Lord my baby was born,
Sat smiling on his daddy’s knee
Some other flash girl he may take on his knee
And don’t you think that’s a grief to me.

A grief to me, I’ll tell you for why
Because she’s got more gold than I
Her gold will waste and her beauty will fly
And in a short time she’ll be poorer than I.

O dig my grave large, wide and deep
Place a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the middle a free turtle dove
To show the wide world I died for love.

I died for love and love you can’t see
Who took away my liberty
My liberty’s got a free good will
But there’s [gone in vain ’cos] I love him still.

Norman Kennedy sings A Student Boy Cam’ Courting Me

A foolish young girl was I,
Tae be courted by a student boy.
A student boy although he be,
He spak’ braid Scots when he cam’ courtin’ me.

Anither lass in yonder toon,
He tak’s her in and he sets her doon.
He tak’s that lassie upon his knee,
And tells a tale that he aince telt tae me.

And when my apron reached my tae,
He’d follow me where’er I’d gae,
But noo it scarce reaches tae my shin,
He’d pass the door, faith, he’d never cry in.

I wisht my baby it was born,
And sitting on his daddy’s knee,
And I was deid and in my grave,
And green garse growing over me.

I wisht, I wisht, I wisht in vain;
I wisht I was a maid again.
But a maid again I’ll never be
Till apples grow on an orange tree.

Caroline Hughes sings Died for Love (Blind Beetles)

O for that dear gal she roamed those meadows,
She was picking these flowers by one, two or three.
She picked, she plucked until she gained,
Until she gathered her apron full.

Now, when I was single, I could wear my apron strings long,
My love he pass by me and say nothing.
But, now my belly is right to me chin,
My love pass by and frowns on me.

Well, the grief, the grief, well, I ’ll tell you for why:
Because the other girl, she got more gold nor me.
What gold should glitter, her beauty will fade,
That’s why it comes back a poor girl like me.

Now, on yonder’s hill there stands an alehouse,
Where my truelove goes and sets hisself down.
He takes another strange girl on his knee
And kisses her and frowns on me.

Now, on yonder’s hill there’s blind beetles crawl,
As blind as blind could be.
I wish to God that I’d been one of they,
Before I jailed [kept?] my love’s company.

Martin Carthy sings Died for Love

I wish my baby it was born
And smiling on his daddy’s knee
And I poor girl was in my grave
With the long green grass a-growing all over me

O grief, o grief and I’ll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I
He takes this young girl on his knee
And he tells her tales that he won’t tell me

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain
I wish I was a sweet maid again
But a maid again I never shall be
Till apples grow on an orange tree

Dig me my grave long wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And at my breast place a white snow dove
For to let the world know that I died for love

Alf Wildman sings Died for Love

There is a tavern in yonder town
Where my poor boy goes and sits himself down.
He pulls a strange girl on his knee,
Now don’t you think that’s a grief to me?

A grief, a grief, and I’ll tell you why;
Because she’s got more gold than I.
But gold will waste and beauty will fly (?)
Then, poor girl, she’ll come like me at last.

He courted me when my apron tied low,
He followed me through the frost and snow,
And now it ties beneath my chin
He passes by and he say nothing.

Now all you maidens be advised by me,
Never let a stranger take you on his knee.
He’ll kiss and cuddle and swear to be true,
And the very next moment he’ll bid you adieu.

I’m tired and weary of all this grief,
For a false young man is worse than a thief;
A thief will rob you, then run away,
But a false young man, he’ll lead you astray.

There is a blackbird in yonder tree,
They say ’tis blind and cannot see.
I wish it had been so by me,
Before I met my love’s company.

Then dig my grave and dig it deep.
Put a marble stone at my head and feet,
And a red rose bush in the middle of me,
For I loved that lad but he never loved me.

Geoff Ling sings Died for Love

There is a tavern in the town,
And where my true love sits himself down.
And every day do take a fresh girl on his knee,
O don’t you think it is grief to me.

O grief, O grief, I’ll tell you for why,
Because she’ve got more gold than I.
For the gold it will melt and the silver will fly
And then you’ll become a poor girl like I.

I wish my baby had a-been born,
Set smiling on his dadder’s knee.
And then all my love would pass her by
And then he would think the more of me.

So dig my grave and dig it deep,
Place lilies at my head and feet.
And on my breast place a turtle dove
To let the world know that I died for love.

For ’tis grief, O grief, I’ll tell you for why,
Because she’ve got more gold than I.
But the gold it will melt and the silver will fly,
And then you’ll become a poor girl like I.

Linda & Susan Adams sing A Brisk Young Sailor

A brisk young sailor courted me,
He robbed me of my liberty,
My liberty and my right good will
I must confess I love him still.

There’s an alehouse in the town,
Where my love goes and sits him down;
And he pulls a strange girl all on his knee
And isn’t that a grief to me.

A grief to me, and I’ll tell you why:
Because she has more gold than I,
But the gold it will waste and the beauty blast
And he’ll come to a poor girl like me at last.

I wish my baby it was born
Sat smiling on its nurse’s knee;
And I myself was in my grave
With the green grass growing over me.

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain,
I wish I was a maid again.
But a maid again I never will be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.

Son Townsend sings Near Woodstock Town

Near Woodstock town in Oxfordshire,
As I walk’d forth to take the air,
To view the fields and meadows round,
Methought I’d heard a mournful sound.

Down by a crystal river side,
A galliant bower I espied,
Where a fair lady made great moan,
With many a bitter sigh and groan.

“Alas!” quoth she, “my love’s unkind,
My sighs and tears he will not mind!
But he is cruel unto me,
Which causes all my misery.”

“Soon after he had gain’d my heart,
He cruelly did from me part;
Another maid he does pursue,
And to his vows he bids adieu.”

The lady round the meadow ran,
And gather’d flowers as they sprang;
Of every sort she there did pull,
Until she got her apron full.

The green turf served her as a bed,
And flowers a pillow for her head;
She laid her down and nothing spoke,
Alas! for lher, her heart was broke.

[ Soon after was the squire possessed
With various thoughts that broke his rest,
Sometimes he thought her groans he heard,
Sometimes her ghastly ghost appeared.

“Since my unkindness did destroy
My dearest love and only joy
My wretched life must ended be;
Now must I die and come to thee!”

His rapier from his side he drew
And pierced his body through and through,
So he dropped down in purple gore
Just where she did some time before.

He buried was within the grave
Of his true love - and thus you have
A sad account of his hard fate,
Who died in Oxfordshire of late. ]

Danny Brazil sings A Bold Fisherman Courted Me

Once a bold fisherman courted me,
And stole away my liberty;
He won my heart with a free good will,
Although he is false I love him still.

Once I wore my apron low,
My love followed me through frost and snow;
But now my apron’s touching my chin,
My love he pass by but never calls in.

There is one alehouse in this town,
My love walks in and sets himself down;
He takes another strange girl on his knee,
He smiles at her and frowns on me.

O grief, O grief I’ll tell you for why,
It’s because that she’s got more gold than I;
Her gold will waste and her beauty will fly,
And in a short time she’ll come like I.

I wish to God my baby was born,
Sat smiling on its daddy’s knee;
And me poor girl buried in cold clay,
And the green grass growing all over me.

Down in the meadow the poor girl run,
She was gathering flowers as they sprung;
She gathered them white and she gathered them blue
Until at last she gathered her apron full.

Come blow you, blow you stormy winds blow,
Come blow the green leaves from the tree;
She sat herself down and no more she spoke,
And alas poor girl her heart it was broke.

Come dig me a grave both long wide and deep,
Put a marble stone at my head and my feet;
And in the middle a turtle dove,
For to let the world know I died for love.

I died for love you plainly can see,
I died for one that never loved me;
He won my heart with a free good will,
Although he is false I love him still.

Davie Savage sings Brisk Young Sailor

A brisk young sailor courted me,
He stole away my liberty.
My liberty, with a free good will;
With all his faults I love him still.

There is an alehouse in this town,
Where my true love can sit himself down,
And take another girl on his knee,
And don’t you think it’s sad grief to me.

Sad grief, sad grief, I’ll tell you for why,
Because she has got more gold than I.
The gold it will melt and the silver will fly,
And then she’ll become a poor girl like I.

I wish to God my baby was born,
Lay smiling in his daddy’s arms.
And I’m laid in my grave alone,
With green grass growing over me.

Sad grief, sad grief, I’ll tell you for why,
Because she has got more gold than I.
The gold it will melt and the silver will fly,
And then she’ll become a poor girl like I.

O dig me a grave most wide and deep,
Put tomb stones at my head and my feet,
And on my breast lay a turtle dove,
For all this world I died for love.

John Roberts and Tony Barrand sinf Died for Love

I wish my baby it was born,
Lying smiling on his father’s knee,
And I, poor girl, was dead and gone,
And the green grass growing all over me.

I wish, I wish, but it’s all in vain,
I wish I was a maid again;
But a maid again I never can be,
Since that young farmer came courting me.

Dig me a grave both long and deep,
Gut a marble slab at my head and feet;
But a turtle-white dove put over above,
To let the world know that I died for love.

Jean Orchard sings Over Yonder’s Hill

Over yonder’s hill there is an old house
Where my true love goes and sits himself down.
Takes another fresh girl on his knee,
Now don’t you think that’s a grief to me?

A grief, a grief, I’ll tell you for why,
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold may glitter and silver may shine,
And all my sorrows will fade in time.

I wish the Lord my baby was born,
And sat smiling in his own daddy’s arms.
And me poor girl wrapped up in cold clay,
Then all my sorrows would fade away.

There is a flower, I have heard people say,
They grow by night and fade by day.
Now if that flower I could find,
It would cure my heart and ease my mind.

So across the fields that poor girl she ran,
Gathering flowers just as they sprang.
Some she picked and some she pulled
Until she gathered her apron full.

She takes them home and she makes her bed,
She puts a snow white pillow in under her head.
She lies down and closed her eyes,
Closed her eyes no more for to rise.

Viv Legg sings On Yonder Hill

On yonder hill there is an alehouse,
Where my my false love he sets himself down.
He takes another fresh girl on his knee,
Don’t you think that’s a grief to me.

A grief to me, I tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I.
Her gold might lessen, her beauty will fade,
Then she’ll ’come a poor girl like me.

I wish, I wish my baby was born,
And sat upon his daddy’s knee.
And that my body was wrapped in cold clay,
With green grass growing all over me.

There is a flower, I’ve heard people say -
It grows by night and it fades by day,
And if that flower I could find,
I would cure my heart and ease my mind.

So across the field, that poor girl she ran,
Gathering flowers just as they sprang.
Some she picked and some she pulled,
Until she gathered her apron full.

She took them home and made her bed,
She put a snow white pillow in under her head.
She laid down and she closed her eyes,
She closed her eyes no more to rise.

Emily Portman sings Borstal Boy

A borstal boy came home one day
To find his love had gone away,
When he asked the reason why
With these words she did reply:

“If you were to chose a normal life
I would’ve gladly been your wife,
But as you chose a life of crime,
Borstal boy, do your time.”

It’s all alone, alone in a cell,
A Borstal boy he ran his bell.
When they came they found him dead,
And in his hand a letter, read:

“Won’t you dig my grave, dig it deep,
Put a marble stone all at my feet.
A turtle white dove put over and above,
For to let the world I died for love!”

So come all you girls that were inclined,
A true, true love is hard to find.
So if you find one, love him true
For a borstal boy, he will die for you,
A borstal boy, he will die for you.

Acknowledgements

The verses sung by Joseph Taylor and Martin Carthy were transcribed by Garry Gillard, Isla Cameron’s and Shirley Collins’ version by Reinhard Zierke.