> Shirley Collins > Songs > The Maydens Came

The Maydens Came

[trad.]

Shirley Collins sang The Maydens Came on her 1967 album The Power of the True Love Knot. She commented in the sleeve notes:

This is a cryptic fragment of anon poetry found by Dolly in a posh Sunday newspaper and set to tunes at different times by different members of the family. My Aunt Jackie worked this one out and I love it. Robin Williamson adds his chanter (the Indian shahanhai) to make a sound like the extra stop on the original 1643 organ.

Lyrics

Shirley Collins sings The Maydens Came

The maydens came when I was in my mother’s bower;
I have all that I would.

Chorus (after each verse):
The bailey beareth the bell away;
The lily, the rose, the rose I lay.

The silver is white, red is the gold;.
The robes they lay in fold.

And through the glass window shines the sun;
How should I love and I so young.