Love Will Find a Way- Foster (AR) 1869 Randolph C
[From: Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. I, British Ballads and Songs, pp. 244-249.
R. Matteson 2016]
C. "Love Will Find a Way." Communicated by Professor F. M. Goodhue, Mena, Ark., Oct. 10, 1930. Professor Goodhue obtained it from one of his neighbors, who called it "Love Will Find a Way," and insisted that the song was written by a Mrs. Sarah A. Foster, in April, 1869.
Awake, awake, you drowsy sleepers,
Awake, awake, for it's almost day,
Day is breakin' here an' yonder,
Day is breakin' everywhere.
Love can creep an' love can wonder,
Love can go where it does not show,
Love has been the ruin of many,
A many a pore man's overthrow.
My father's a-layin' in his bed chamber,
A-takin' of his natural rest,
An' in his hand he holds a weapon
To stay the one that I love best.
Don't sing no songs to wake my mother[1],
No songs of love would she wish to hear,
Go sing your songs to some other lady,
Some other lady more beauty than I.
Oh madam, oh madam, I court no other,
For thinkin' on your lovely charms,
It is time you was weanin' from your mother[2],
Embracin' of your true love's arm.
1. See Joan Baez, 1960;
Don't sing love songs, you'll wake my mother
She's sleeping here right by my side,
2. See also Allan Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany; 1725:
'Tis time you were wean'd from your mother,
You're fitter for a lover's arms.