A Grief- Mrs. Goodyear (Hamp) 1907 Gardiner
[My title, perhaps it should be "Brisk Little Drummer"- another ballad titled Brisk Young Drummer, from which I assume it was borrowed. Fragment with music from George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/13/795). Variant of the "Alehouse"/"Brisk Young Soldier" branch with two stanzas from Oxfordshire Tragedy. See also George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/13/794)
R. Matteson 2017]
A Grief (There is an Alehouse)- sung by Mrs. Goodyear (b. 1833) of Axford near Basingstoke, Hampshire in July, 1907. Collected by G.B. Gardiner, Charles Gambin.
[A brisk little drummer came a-courting me[1],
He stole away my liberty, my liberty,
He stole away my liberty.]
[He gained it waith a good free wiill,
Although he's false I love him still, I love him still
Although he's false I love him still.]
A grief, a grief, I'll tell you for why,
Because she has more gold than I,
The gold will waste and her beauty blast,
And she'll become like me at last.
Then in the garden she did run,
Gathering flowers as they sprung;
Off every flower, she picked a pose,
Till she had got her apron full.
She gathered posies for her bed
A pillow and flowery down she laid,
No more she rose, no more she spoke,
For he true loving heart was broke.
1. In a separate entry titled Died for Love, is this text with music which is completely different. Each stanza is divided at normal first stanza would be:
A brisk little drummer came a-courting me,
He stole away my liberty,
He gained it with a good free wiill,
Although he's false I love him still.