Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies- Obadiah Johnson (NC) 1940 Brown D
[From: Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Volume III, 1954 and Brown V music c. 1956, first stanza.
Johnson's last stanza is reworded from Wheel of Fortune:
But time will soon put an end to all things,
And love will soon put an end to me;
But surely there is a place of torment,
To punish my lover for slighting me.
R. Matteson 2017]
254. Little Sparrow
This lyric of the lovelorn is a favorite in the Southern mountains. See BSM 477 and add to the references there given Virginia (FSV 80-1). Florida (SFLQ viii 172-3), Missouri (OFS I 315-17), and Indiana (SFLQ in 205, BSI 328). It is often called 'Come all you fair and tender ladies,' from its opening line. It is distinguished from other songs of a like spirit, such as 'The Inconstant Lover,' by the image of the bird and, generally, by the likening of love to a fair dawn that turns into bad weather. One of the following texts is marked by a trace — rare in American tradition — of the old English 'Seeds of Love' songs.
D. 'Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies.' As sung by Obadiah Johnson of Crossnore, Avery county, in July 1940. With the tune. There are two copies of his text, the longer of which, six stanzas, ends somewhat
truculently :
I hope there is a day a-coming
When my lover I shall see.
I hope there is a place of torment
To punish my love for denying me.
* * * *
[Brown V, music]
D. 'Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies.' Sung by Obadiah Johnson of Crossnore, Avery county, July 14, 1940. Quite closely related to F-247. In measure 6 given in the variations the skip of a fourth was taken with considerable hesitation and uncertainty ; perhaps the reason might be that in the first stanza this skip was only a third.
Come all you fair and tender ladies,
Be careful how you court young men.
They are like bright stars of a summer's morning,
They first are here and then they're gone.
For melodic relationship cf. ***SharpK 11 132, No. 118 I; **SharpK 11 130, 134, and 135, No. 118D, K, M, and N; FSSH 257, first four measures only;
OFS I 315, No. 73A; *FSUSA 58-9.
Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: aa^bb^ (2,2,2,2) = ab
(4,4). The tonal center is the lowest tone.