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?