Apron Low- Charles Benfield (Oxf) 1909 Sharp
[My title, originally: There Is An Ale House. Four stanzas with music from Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/2166). A PDF with music is available at GloeTrad; http://glostrad.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/625-Charles-Benfield-A-Brisk-Young-Lover.pdf
R. Matteson 2017]
Apron Low- sung by Charles Benfield, of Bould Oxfordshire on 11 Sept., 1909. Collector: Cecil J. Sharp
1. When I wore my apron low,
My love followed me through frost and through snow
But now my apron is to my chin,
He passes by and says nothing.
2. There is an alehouse in the town,
Where William goes and is sets him down;
He takes another girl on his knee,
And don't you think it's a grief to me?
3. A grief to me and I'll tell you for why,
Poor girl she's got more gold than I;
Her gold will waste and her beauty blast[1],
And then she'll [be]come like me a last.
4. So the greenest field shall be my bed,
A flowery pillow for my head
And the leaves that blew from tree to tree,
Shall be a covering over me.
1. MS has "last"