Died for Love- Lionel Hall (Faeroe) c.1941 Palmer
[From Roy Palmer's "What A Lovely War." Palmer's notes follow,
R. Matteson 2017]
Died For Love
It is undeniable that servicemen enjoy crude songs, but they also have a strong liking for the sentimental. John Gregson learnt a version of this song in India in the 1930s, and the Stoke prisoners-of-war remembered another which they had heard sung by
the pot bank girls of the Potteries at the same period. During the Second World War there were army, navy and air force versions. The one given here is sung by Gordon Hall, whose brother, Lionel, learnt it while stationed as a soldier in the Faeroe
Islands from 1941 to 1943.
A miner coming home one night
Found his house without a light;
And so he went upstairs to bed,
And then a thought entered his head.
He went into his daughter's room,
And found her hanging from a beam.
He took a knife and cut her down,
And in her hand this note he found.
'I had a lover and I loved him,
I loved him really fond and true,
Until he ran away and left me
To face this barren world alone.
'My brothers they have turned against me,
My sisters they have done the same;
But still my darling mother loves me.
My father's head is bent in shame.
'So, Mother, should you see my lover,
Greet him with a tender smile.
Although he ran away and left me
He's still the father of my child.
'My clothes are all in rags and tatters,
Just for to keep my baby warm.
Sleep on, sleep on, my blue-eyed treasure,
For soon your mammy will be gone.
My love is for a bold marine,
I always think of him,
And though he's far across the sea,
He never, never thinks of me.
So good maidens, bear in mind
A good man's love is hard to find
Dig my grave both wide and deep,
And lay my weary bones to sleep.
They dug her grave both wide deep,
And laid white lilies at her feet.
And on her breast a turtle dove,
To show the world she died for love.