US & Canada Versions 7U. Wheel of Fortune
[The British love song, Wheel of Fortune, is extremely rare in North America and only two extant versions[1] are known to survive. The earliest "Come, Roll 'round the Wheel of Fortune" was recorded near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, by Glada Gully, a student in Lincoln Memorial University, circa 1932. Here's the text as it appears in Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands by Mellinger Henry, 1938:
"Come, Roll 'round the Wheel of Fortune." From Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, by Glada Gully, a student in Lincoln Memorial University, 1932.
1. Come, roll 'round your wheel of fortune;
Come, roll around once more for me;
A young man's love is quite uncertain;
My own experience teaches me.
2. Once I had a gay, young lover;
He was my joy; he was my pride;
But now he's going with another;
He's sitting by another's side.
3.1 must confess I dearly love him;
I kept the secret in my breast;
I never knew an ill about him
Until I learned to love him best.
4.1 never knew he was going to leave me
Until one night when he came in;
He sat down by me and told me;
'Twas when my trouble first began.
5. Had I the wings of a little sparrow,
I wouldn't pine nor would I die,
But 1 would follow my false-hearted lover
And tell him where he told a lie.
6. Had I the wings of a little swallow,
Or had I the wings of a turtle dove,
I'd fly away from this world of sorrow
Into some land of light and love.
7. Now, all you girls, take warning;
Be careful how you love young men,
For they are like the stars of morning,
As soon as daylight they are gone.
This is Henry's E version of "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" also known as "Little Sparrow." The last three stanzas are clearly from 'Little Sparrow." A second version titled, The Wheel of Fortune, was collected by Edith Fowke from Mrs. Thelma McAra (b. 1911) in Quebec in 1968. I do not have access to the Fowke tapes yet. McAra's song begins,
"Once I had a charming young man,
He was all the world to me.
The Wheel opening stanza is sometimes found in "Madam, I Have Come to Court You" which is Roud 542. It is known under a variety of names and variants. Two antecedent broadsides of "Madam, I Have Come to Court You" were found by Steve Gardham which date 1760 and 1776. A stanza from a version collected by Phillips Barry was printed in his 1912 JOAFL article on Irish Folk Songs[2]:
4. 'Round about the wheel of fortune,
It goes round and wearies me,
Young men's ways are so uncertain,
Sad experience teaches me!"
Since there is only one version it will not be attached to this page. For more info see 7U. Wheel of Fortune headnotes.
R. Matteson 2017]
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Footnotes:
1. This could be considered a version of "Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" although the "Wheel" stanzas dominate.
2. "Irish Folk-Song" Journal of American Folklore, Volume 24, 1912.
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CONTENTS: (On this page only)
1) "Come, Roll 'round the Wheel of Fortune." From Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, by Glada Gully, a student in Lincoln Memorial University, 1932. Printed in Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands by Mellinger Henry, 1938 (see text above).
2) "The Wheel of Fortune," collected by Edith Fowke, was sung by Mrs. Thelma McAra of Beechgrove, Quebec in 1968.