Oh No, No Sir, No- Mary Brown (PA) 1929 Bayard
[From Pennsylvania Songs and Legends, Korson. This version is the archaic "No Sir" with stanzas of "Madam" and not related to Wakefield's published version of 1882 in New York.
R. Matteson 2017]
"Oh No, No Sir, No!" Collected from Mrs. Mary Brown by Bayard in 1929 in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
1. Yonder sits a lovelye creature,
Who she is I do not know;
I'll step up and court her favor,
Let her answer Yes or No.
CHORUS: Oh, no, no, sir, no!
Always to answer the young men no.
2. Madam, I have come a-courting,
And if your favor I can gain,
And if you'll highly entertain me,
Then perhaps I'll come again.
CHORUS:
3. Madam, I have gold and silver,
Madam, I have house and land;
Madam, I have this world's pleasures,
And all shall be at your command.
CHORUS:
4. What care I for gold and silver,
What care I for house and land?
What care I for this world's pleasures?
All I want is a handsome man.
CHORUS:
5. My father was a Spanish merchant,
Where he is I do not know;
Before he left me, he made me promise
To always answer the young men No.
CHORUS:
6. Madam, if you were to live single,
Say, perhaps, one year or two,
Madam, would you be offended
If I should offer my hand to you?
CHORUS (emphatically)
7. As we sit together talking,
The north wind began to blow;
I saw the rising sun approaching
And I said, "Dear madam, I must go."
CHORUS: