Early all in the Spring- Lane (Glou) 1908 Grainger
[My title- replacing the obviously wrong "Died for Love" title. From Percy Grainger's Folk Music Research in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire, 1907-1909 by Gwilym Davies in Folk Music Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1992), pp. 339-358. Transcribed by Davies from a wax cylinder made by Grainger. Davies notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
Summary Scale: Standard. Pitch: I/I#. Range: V-5. Phrase: z bars. Form: ABCD/ABCDCD passim. Pulse: J7z + . Metre: 3/z. Song: 33z. Cylinders: 185-186. Note: Various catalogues have made the mistake of assuming from its title that this song is
a version of the 'Alehouse in Yonder Town' group of songs, which it is not.
Early all in the Spring- sung by Archer 'Daddy' Lane of Winchombe, Gloucestershire on 5 April, 1908.
'Twas early, early, all in the spring,
I went to board to see the King,
Till the ship[1] ....... ?
Which parted me and my sailor boy.
'Oh, father, father, build me a boat,
That on the ocean I may float,
And every Queen's ship that I pass by,
I will enquire for my sailor boy.
[The last two lines of each verse are repeated.]
She had not long sailed on the deep
Before five Queen's ships she chanced to meet.
'Now, jov'al sailors, come tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail amongst your crew?'
'No, no, fair lady, he is not here;
He's dead and drownd-ed, I do declare.
On yonders island, as we passed by,
'Twas there we lost your young sailor boy.'
[new cylinder]
She wrang her hands and tore her hair,
Just like some lady in despair;
And against that rock her boat it flew,
Crying, 'What shall I do now, my sailor boy?'
In two or three days after, this lady died,
A letter found by her bedside,
And the reason why she lost her life,
Because she was not this sailor's wife.
'Then dig me a grave both long, wide and deep,
And grow it over with lilies sweet,
And on my tombstone a turtle dove
To show the world that I died for love.'
1. Till the seas and the wind blew nigh [high],