24B. One Morning in May- Williams (CA) 1927
24B. ONE MORNING IN MAY
(The Nightingale )
Contributed by Mrs. Texa Bowen Williams, Los Angeles, California, July, 1927. She writes, "This song was taught me by a wandering laborer, a boy of about seventeen years of age, who stopped for a few days at my father's plantation down in Texas. It must have been forty-five years ago."
1. One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I met a fair couple a-making their way,
One was a lady and a lady was she,
The other was a soldier and a brave one was he.
2. "Good morning, good morning," the lady she replied,
"Good morning, good morning," the soldier replied;
And bowing politely like a nice young man,
He walked up boldly and took her by the hand.
3. They made a conclusion to go to the spring,
To see the water gliding and hear the nightingale sing.
. . .
. . .
4. And on the way there he told her a fiddler
And out of his knapsack he drew a fine fiddle,
He tuned it up on a very high string,
He played her a tune and the valleys did ring.
5. "And now," said the lady "won't you marry me?"
"No, no," said the soldier, "that never can be;
For back in fair Granville, I have children three,
And the prettiest little woman that you ever did so."
6. "Oh now," said the soldier, "I must go."
"Oh, no," said the lady, "Oh, no, oh, no,
I'd rather hear one tap on your fine fiddle string,
Than to see tho water gliding, hear the nightingale sing."