Bluegrass Messengers

Down in the Meadows- Caroline Cox (Som) 1905 Sharp

[My title. From: Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/604)

R. Matteson 2017]

Down in the meadows (Waly Waly) - sung by Mrs. Caroline Cox of High Ham, Somerset on August 8th, 1905. Collected Cecil Sharp, from his MSS.

Down in the meadows  the other day
Gathering flowers both fine & gay
Gathering flowers both red & blue
I little thought what love can do.

I put my hand into the bush
Thinking the sweetest flower to find
I pricked my finger to the bone
And leaved the sweetest flowers  alone.

I leaned my back up against  an some oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
First he bended then he broke
And so did my false love to me

There is a ship sailing on the sea
But it's loaded so deep as deep can be
But not so deep as in love I am
I care not whether I sink or swim.

Since my love's dead and gone to rest
I'll think on her who I love best
I've sewed her up in flannel strong
Have another now she's dead and gone!