There is a Tavern- Mrs. Lee (Wilt) 1916 A. Williams
[My title abbreviating -There is a tavern in the town. From WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 4 - Wiltshire: Williams, A: MS collection No Wt 497 Recording. First published:Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, 26th February, 1916, p 3, Part 20, No. 10 Williams notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
Notes by Williams: WGS: 'There is another song with this title, and which still enjoys some popularity: it is to be met with in modern song books and collections of 'Camp Songs'. There is no doubt but that this is the original version. The air is sweet and well suits the words of the song. I remember hearing it sung at the first harvest home I attended at South Marston, when I was eight years of age. Words obtained of Mrs George Lee, South Marston, Wiltshire.'
There is a Tavern- sung by Mrs. Lucy Jane Lee of South Marston, Wiltshire. Collected by Alfred Williams.
Verse 1: There is a tavern in yonder town,
Where my young man is sitting down[1];
He takes another girl on his knee,
And don't you think it's a grief to me?
Verse 2: A grief to me, I'll tell you for why,
Because she has got more gold than I;
Her gold will fade, her beauty will die,
And she'll become a poor girl like I.
Verse 3: Her father came home, one stormy night,
And asked him for his daughter bright;
He went upstairs and opened the door,
And saw her hanging from a cord.
Verse 4: He took a knife and cut her down,
And in her bosom a note he found;
And on this note these words were wrote -
"My sweetheart knows that my heart is broke.
Verse 5: Dig me a grave, so long and deep,
And bury me under the lilies so sweet;
Put on my grave a turtle dove,
To show the world that I died in love."
1. In WGS the text in Verse 1 Line 2 is:
Where my true love is sitting down;