Descended from an earlier (and rather bloodier) Scottish ballad called ‘Young Hunting’, this lamentation on jilted love also found its way across the Atlantic where it was subsequently re-encountered by the English folk song collector Cecil Sharp. We found the jaded heroine appealing; like the protagonist of the earlier ballad, she stands in contrast to the imploring stereotypes more commonly found in ballads of this nature. Unlike the heroine of the older ballad, however, this one is content to leave her former lover unharmed!
lyrics
Come in, come in, my own true love,
And stay for a while with me,
For it's been three quarters of a long year or more,
Since you've spoke one word to me.
I won't come in, I won't sit down,
For I haven't a moment's time,
And besides you're engaged to another fair love,
And your heart no longer is mine.
When you were mine, my own true love,
And your head lay on my breast,
You could make me believe by the falling of your arm,
That the sun rose up in the west.
There's many the star shall jingle in the west,
And there's many the leaves all below,
And there's many the damn that shall light upon a man,
For treating a poor girl so.
I wish to the Lord I've never been born,
Or had died when I was young,
Before I saw those pretty blue eyes,
Or I heard that lying tongue.
I never shall believe what another man says,
Though his eyes be blue or brown,
Unless he is on some scaffold to be hung,
And he says that he wants to come down.
A fast-paced, foot-tapping blend of transatlantic folk music styles, drawing unlikely inspiration from the blood-soaked
popular ballad tradition and the chilling ‘Danse Macabre’ imagery of medieval Europe. Come dance away your worldly cares; when Death scrapes the bow, all folk must dance....more
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