Down by some River- Mr. Flint (Surrey) 1907 R.V. Williams
[From Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (at British Library) (RVW2/1/71). Reprinted in Folk Songs Collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams by Roy Palmer - 1983.
Very rare version with "murmuring side" archaic C,
R. Matteson 2017]
Down By Some River- sung by Mr. Flint of Lyne, Surrey in 1907 taken down by R.V. Williams.
Down by some river's murmurin' side
Where silver streams do gently glide
I heard a fair maid making her moan
"How can I live now my Jimmy's gone?"
O father fetch me a little boat,
That on the ocean I might float
And every ship I do see
I will enquire for my sailor boy.
She had not sailed long in the deep
Before some queen's ship she chanced to meet
Come Jovial sailors come tell me true
If my young Jimmy sails along with you.
Oh no young lady he is not here
Fro he is drownded I greatly fear
For yonders island that we have sailed by
It was there we lost your Jimmy boy.
She wrung her hands she tore her hair
Much like some woman in despair,
her boat up against some rock did run,
"How can I live now Jimmy's gone."
I will go down to some shady grove,
There I'll go and make my woe,
Telling the small birds, telling them of my grief,
That they might afford me some such relief.