The Warning- anon (NC) c. 1922 I.G. Greer
[My date. From I.G. Greer Folksong Collection; “Little Sparrow, Lyric Variant 02,” Appalachian State University Digital Collections. Stanzic arranging and minor spelling corrections.
Close to "Lady's Address" broadside, compare 1-5.
R. Matteson 2017]
The Warning- anonymous from I.G. Greer Collection
1. Come all you fair and tender ladies,
Take warning how you love young men,
They are like a fair bright summer Morning;
They soon will dawn and fade away
2. They'll tell to you some lovely story;
They will declare to you that they are true
Straight way they'll go and court another,
And that is the love they have for you.
3. I once myself did have a lover,
Indeed I thought he was my own;
Straight way he went and married another
And left me here alone to mourn.
4. I wish that I was a little sparrow,
And had wings so I could fly
Straight after my true love I would follow
An when he spoke I'd be close by.
5. I'd ask him who he was fooling,
Who he was trying to deceive,
And at his window I would flutter
With my little tender wings.
6. But I'm no little sparrow
Neither have I wings to fly
I'll go back home and weep with sorrow
Until I can pass my troubles by.