I'm Seventeen Come Sunday- Hayden (Oxf) c.1870 Carpenter
[From the Carpenter Collection. This is 3rd revision, standard "Seventeen" text with the extra stanza.
R. Matteson 2018]
I'm Seventeen Come Sunday- sung by Harry Wiltshire of Wheald, Bampton, Oxfordshire (Carpenter 1929-1936). Learned from his grandfather Shadrach Hayden, 50 years ago (c.1870).
1. As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
Who should I meet but a handsome maid,
Just as the sun was shining.
CHORUS: With my rue-dum day, fol-the-riddle aye,
Right fo lair 0 laidy.
Who should I meet but a handsome maid,
Just as the sun was shining.
CHORUS: With my rue-dum day, fol-the-riddle aye,
Right fo lair 0 laidy.
2. Her shoes shone bright and her stockings white,
And her buckles shone like silver,
She had a dark and a rolling eye,
And her hair hung around her shoulders.
[Chorus, repeat last 2 lines, then Chorus for each stanza]
3. Where are you going to, my pretty maid,
Where are you going, my honey?
And she answered me right cheerfully,
With an errand for my mammie.
4. How old are you, my pretty fair maid,
How old are you, my honey?
And she answered me right cheerfully,
"I'm seventeen come Sunday."
5. "Shall I come with you, my pretty fair maid,
Shall I come with you, my honey?"
And she answered me right cheerfully,
"Oh no, unless [I ask] my mammie."
6. But if you'll come down to me mammie's house
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will come down and let you in
And my mammie shall not hear me.
7. So I went down to her mammie's house
When the moon shone bright and clearly,
And she did come down and let me in
And lay in my arms till morning.