Little Sparrow- Two girls (KY) 1907 Sharp MS
[From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Sharp Campbell, 1917, 1932. Two stanzas were edited out of the EFSSA version, see MS version at Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at VWML) (CJS1/11/88). The EFSSA version's first three stanzas are similar those of the British antecedent, "The Lady's Address to the Fair Maidens" a broadside printed in Newcastle, London and probably Scotland in the later part of the 1700s. The last stanza is found similarly in two broadsides, Wheel of Fortune and also Silver Pin.
The MS version "I Wish I were Some Little Sparrow (False True Lover)" has 2 extra stanzas see at bottom of page. Campbell has the MS attribution but it probably came from Katherine Pettit at Hindman School. The Ripest Apple stanza dates back to a 1776 English broadside. The second additional stanza reminiscent of "Down in a Meadow" may be unique.
R. Matteson 2017]
B. [Little Sparrow] SHARP EFFSSA - VERSION B (two girls, Knott Co., Ky., no date given- MS has December 26, 1907)
Come all you young and tender ladies,
Take warning how you court young men.
They're like a bright star in a cloudy morning;
They'll first appear and then they're gone.
They'll tell to you some lovely story
And tell you their love is true,
Straightway to some other girl and court her,
And that's the love they have for you.
I wish I were a little sparrow,
Had sparrow's wings and I could fly;
I would fly away to my false true-love,
And while he would talk I would deny.
But I am not a little sparrow,
Got no wings, nor I can't fly;
I will sit right down in grief and sorrow
And try to pass my troubles by.
If I had knowed before I courted
That love had been so hard to win,
I'd locked my heart with the keys of golden,
And pinned it down with a silver pin.
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I Wish I were Some Little Sparrow (False True Lover)- Sung by two girls, December 26, 1907 in Knott County, Kentucky
from Olive Dame Campbell
Come all you young and tender ladies,
Take warning how you court young men.
They're like a bright star in a cloudy morning;
They'll first appear and then they're gone.
They'll tell to you some lovely story
And tell you their love is true,
Straightway to some other girl and court her,
And that's the love they have for you.
The ripest apple soon are rotten,
The truest love is soonest cold;
A young man's vows are soon forgotten,
Pray my pretty little miss don't be too bold!
I wish I were a little sparrow,
Had sparrow's wings and I could fly;
I would fly away to my false true-love,
And while he would talk I would deny.
But I am not a little sparrow,
Got no wings, nor I can't fly;
I will sit right down in grief and sorrow
And try to pass my troubles by.
I wish I was in yonders garden
Gathering flowers of every kind
I hope there's a place in Heaven
For me and that true-love of mine.
If I had knowed before I courted
That love had been so hard to win,
I'd locked my heart with the keys of golden,
And pinned it down with a silver pin.