Twas on one summer's mornin' as I rode oer yon moss,
I had no thought of listing till some soldiers did me cross,
They kindly did invite me to take a flowing bowl
They advanced me some money, one shilling from the crown....


Oh yes my love is listed and he wears a white cockade,
He is a handsome young man, likewise a rovin' blade,
He is a handsome young man, and he's gone to serve his King,
And my very heart is aching, all for the love of him.


Oh yes my love is handsome and comely for to see,
But by a sad misfortune a soldier now is he,
May the very man that listed him not prosper night nor day,
And I wish that those Hollanders would sink him in the sea.


Oh may he never prosper and may he never thrive,
At whate'er he turns his hand unto as long as he's alive,
On the very ground he walks upon may grass refuse to grow,
Since he has been the only cause of my sorrow grief and woe...


He then took out a handkerchief to wipe her flowing eyes.
Leave off these lamentations, likewise these mournful sighs,
Leave off these lamentations while I march o'er the plain,
We'll be married in the springtime when I return again...


Oh yes my love is listed, but true to him I'll prove,
I'll carve his name on every tree that grows in yonder grove,
Where the huntsman he do holler and the hounds so sweetly cry,
to remind me of my ploughboy until the day I die.....

TRADITIONAL (Dales version)

Perhaps the finest of fine old traditional dales songs! Lovely lyric and stirring melody. For me this hits all the right buttons!

Jim Jarratt. Mytholmroyd. 2006

Copyright Jim Jarratt. 2006