Brisk Young Man- Smithers (Glou) 1908 Sharp MS
[Single stanza with music from Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/1642), Text from Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/1496).
R. Matteson 2017]
A Brisk Young Man- sung by Mrs. Elizabeth Smitherd [Smithers] (b. circa 1843) of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire on 11 April, 1908. Collector: Sharp, Cecil J.
1. A brisk young man he courted me,
Until he gained my liberty,
He stole my heart with a free good will,
Although he's false I love him still.
2. O when I my apron strings were low,
My love followed me through frost and snow,
But now they are right up to my chin
He passes by and says nothing.
3. There is a house in yonder town
where my love he goes and sits himself down
He takes another girl on his knee
Why don't you think it's hard grief to me?
4. Hard grief to me and I will tell you why,
Because she's got more gold than I,
Her gold it will waste and beauty will pass,
She'll come like me a poor at last.
5. I wish to God my babe was born,
And smiling on his father's knee,
And I in some cold was lain,
Before I gained my love's company[1].
6. There's a bird in yonder tree,
Some say he's blind and cannot see,
I wish it had been the same by me,
Before I gained my love's company.
1. this line is misplaced-- usually, "With the green grass growing o'er me."