Bluegrass Messengers

Down in the Meadows- James Thomas (Som) 1906 Sharp

[From Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/989),

R. Matteson 2017]

Down In The Meadows- Sung by James Thomas of Cannington, Somerset on 20 April 1906. Collected by Cecil Sharp, from Karpeles, Sharp Collection, No. 35 B, p. 172.

            O down in the meadows the other day
            A-gathering flowers both rich and gay,
            A-gathering flowers both red and blue,
            I little thought what love could do.

            Where love is planted there do grow,
            It buds and blossoms just like some rose,
            For it has a sweet and a pleasant smell,
            No flower on earth can it excel.

            I fetched my back once against an oak,
            I thought it had been some trusty tree,
            For the first it bent and the next it broke,
            So did my love prove false to me.

            Must I go bound and she go free?
            Must I love one that don't love me?
            Why should I act such a childish part
            To love a girl that will break my heart?