The Rambling Boy- (Lon) Pitts broadside c. 1806
[Broadside from J. Pitts, London between 1802 and 1819. Nearly the same as the 1765 version from the Musical Companion,
R. Matteson 2017]
The Rambling Boy- Pitts broadside; printed and sold by J. Pitts, 14 Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials, Londom about 1806.
1. I am a wild and a rambling boy,
My lodgings are in the Isle of Cloy,
A wild and a rambling boy I be,
I'll forsake them all and follow thee.
2. O Billy! Billy! I love you well,
I love you better than tongue can tell
I love you well but dare not shew,
To you my dear let no one know.
3. I wish I was a blackbird or thrush,
Changing my notes from bush to bush,
That all the world might plainly see,
I lov'd a man that lov'd not me,
4. I wish I was a little fly,
That on his bosom I might lie.
And all the people fast asleep,
Into my lover's arms I'd softly creep.
5. I love my father I love my mother,
I love my sisters and my brothers
I love my friends and relations too,
I would forsake them all to go with you
6. My father left me house and land,
Bid me use it at my command
But at my command they shall I never be;
I’ll forsake them all love and go with thee.
7. Her father he came home that night
And asking for his heart's delight.
He went up stairs, the door he broke.
He found her hanging in a rope.
8. He took a knife and cut her down,
And in her bosom these lines he found:
Dig me a grave both wide and deep.
And a marble stone to cover it.