Seventeen Come Sunday- R. Brader (Linc) 1973 Hamer
[From Fred Hamer's "Green Groves" pp.75-76, 1973. This is the Seventeen broadside version.
R. Matteson 2018]
Seventeen Come Sunday- sung by Robert Brader of Lusby, Lincolnshire, before 1973
As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
I spied a pretty fair maiden,
Just as the sun was rising,
CHORUS: With my ru, rum, ray, fol the diddle a,
Whack for lay diddle I doh.
Then her stockings white, her shoes was bright,
And her buckles shone like silver,
She had a dark and a rolling eye,
And her hair hung down her shoulders.
Where are you going, my pretty fair maid,
Where are you going, my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
Oh I'm seventeen come Sunday[1].
Can you take a man my pretty fair maid,
Can you take a man my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
I dare not for my mammy.
If you will come to my mammy's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will come down and let you in,
And my mammy shall not hear you.
Then I did walk down to her mammy's house,
When the moon shone bright and clearly,
She did come down and let me in,
And she lay in my arms till morning.
Oh it's Soldier lad will you marry me?
For now 'tis time or never,
For if you do not marry me,
I shall be undone for ever.
So now I'm with my soldier lad,
And the wars they are alarming,
A drum and fife is my delight,
And a pint of rum in the morning.
1. either some text was left off or the last line was sung to the wrong stanza