Brisk Young Soldier- Robert Feast (Ely) 1911 Sharp
[Single stanza with music. Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/2658). Last two lines repeated. The ending is 'Constant Lady" with the last stanza being the "Two Hearts" stanza.
R. Matteson 2017]
Brisk Young Soldier- sung by Robert Feast of Ely, Cambridgeshire on Sept 11, 1911 Sharp MS
A brisk young soldier he courted me
He robbed me of my liberty.
Though that he was a false young man
I love, I love, I love him still[1].
Though that he was a false young man
I love, I love, I love him still.
There is a house all on yonder hill
Where my love goes he says lay down
He takes a strange girl all on his knees
And dont [don't] you think that's a grief to me
[It's a grief to me I'll tell you why][2],
Because she has more gold than I
But gold will waste and beauty will pass
Poor girl she'll come like me at last
When I wore my apron low
My love followed me thro frost & snow
When I wear it up to my chin
My love passed by and never looked in
All down in the meadows away she goes
To gather the flowers all as they sprung
She plucked red and she plucked blue
Until she plucked her apron full
A flower for my pillow and one for my head
A green grass bolster all for my bed
Then leaves that blow from tree to tree
Shall be the coverlets all over me
There is a man on yonder hill
He's got two hearts like iron & steel
He's got two hearts in the [room] of one
What a rogue he'll be when he's dead & gone
1. one MS has "I Love him still" - not enough words for that line. I assume an extra "I love him" was added.
2. This line was missing, so I added standard text.