Early One Morning- Nelson Ridley (Kent) pre-1928 MacColl B
[My abbreviated title. From: Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, 1977. Their bio info follows. Stanza 1 is from The Croppy Boy which begins similarly (last lines are different) and has a similar melody to the Irish, Oikotype A, "Early Early in the Spring." Stanza three is a variant of the "must I go bound" stanza-- a popular added stanza in Died for Love.
R. Matteson 2017]
Nelson Ridley was born in 1913 in Wineham, Kent. His father, Alfred Ridley, and his mother, Louisa Jems, were both Kent Travellers. Nelson was one of sixteen children, all but one of whom reached adult age. Ridley claimed to have learned all his songs before the age of twelve.
B. Early One Morning- sung by Nelson Ridley of Wineham, Kent, learned before c. 1928
1. Early one morning all in the spring,
Where the birds did whistle and softly sing,
They changed their note my love from tree to tree,
And the song they sing was Old Ireland's Free.
2. Now the colour of amber was my love's hair
With her ruby lips and rosy cheeks;
With her ruby lips and rosy cheeks,
O, ten thousand times they've they've been joined with mine.
3. Now it's are you single or are you free,
Or have you came to marry me?
For a maid again, O I never will be,
Till the apples grow on an orange tree.
4. Now, I passed by one large ship, I passed by two
Now, I passed by three large ships, I passed by four
Then every large ship that I passed by,
Then I will enquire for my sailor boy.