I Wish, I Wish- Jones (Heref) c.1910 V. Williams
[No date or certain informant given, the name "Jones" appears before title. Original title: A Bold Young Farmer (with music), which appears to be a generic title used by Williams in 1904. From: Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (at British Library) (RVW2/1/182).
The second stanza is from the c. 1686 Oxfordshire Tragedy, a commonly added stanza.
R. Matteson 2017]
I Wish, I Wish- sung by Jones? a name on MS title from Herefordshire?, written down by Ralph Vaughan Williams about 1910. Unconfirmed date and location supplied by Roud.
I wish, I wish that my babe was born
And smiling on her daddy's knee
And me poor girl was in cold clay,
With the green grass a growing all over me
She took the green grass all for her bed
And a flowery pillow all for her head
And down she lay there no more she spoke
For perchance poor girl then her heart was broke.