Fair and Tender Ladies- Rosie Hensley (NC) 1916 Sharp A
[English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, edited by Cecil James Sharp with texts from Olive Campbell, 1917 and 1932. 1st stanza resembles 'Yon Green Valley."
R. Matteson 2017]
COME ALL YOU FAIR AND TENDER LADIES - sung by Mrs. Rosie Hensley, Carmen, N.C., Aug 8, 1916
O don't you remember on yon green mountain,
Where I and you first fell in love,
Where the little birds was sweetly singing
And even, too, the little doves?
Come all ye fair and tender ladies,
Be careful how you court young men;
They're like a star of a summer's morning,
They'll first appear and then they're gone.
They'll tell to you some pleasing story,
They'll declare to you they are your own;
Straightway they'll go and court some other
And leave you here in tears to mourn.
I wish I were a little swallow
And I had wings and I could fly;
Straight after my true love I would follow,
When they'd be talking I'd be by.
But I am no little swallow,
I have no wings, nor I can't fly,
And after my true love I can't follow,
And when they're talking I'll set and cry.
.....
.....
There's many a dark and rainy morning
Turns out to be a pretty day.