In Halifax Town- David Lyall (Aber) c1908 Duncan
[From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, general editor Emily B. Lyle, 8 vols (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press / Edinburgh: Mercat Press for the University of Aberdeen in association with the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, 1981-2002), VIII, 566-67.
Lyall's wife, Mrs Ann (Neilsen) Lyall born in 1869 was collected by Carpenter and also Greig & Duncan. This is a hybrid version: the first two stanzas and last three stanzas are from "Constant Lady" see also end of the broadside "Sheffield Park"[last stanza] and "Love Had Left Me in Despair." The fist stanza has the 'deep in love" lyric and the flower that can cure loss of "deep love" is the heart-ease [see Constant Lady].
R. Matteson 2017]
IN HALIFAX TOWN- sung by David Lyall, shoemaker, of Skene, Aberdeenshire about 1908.
In Halifax toon a fair lady did dwell
As deep in love as love can excel
As deep in love as could be
Alas poor girl no cure could be.
Her father was a gentleman
My mother was a lady fair
And I myself the only one
My true love's left me in despair.
There is a tavern in yon town
My love he goes an' he sets himself down
He takes another upon his knee
An' he tells her what he once told me.
It's grief , it's grief, an I'll tell you for why
Because she has more gold than I.
But her gold will waste an her colour will blush
Alas poor girl she'll die at last.
I wish, I wish, my babe was born
An' placed upon its nurse's knee
An' I myself in a bed of clay
An'there I'll lie till the judgment day.
So early next morning this lady arose
To pu' the wild flowers in simmer that grows
To pu' the wild flowers just as they grew
Until she had her apron fu'.
The greenest of grass shall be my bed
The fairest of flowers lie under my head
She laid herself down no more she spoke
Alas poor girl her heart was broke.
An' when the news to her lover was told
His very heart's blood in his bosom ran cold
Says "I'm happy to hear she is doing so well
For I long to hear the old church bell."