Fair Margaret- Ashford (VT) 1937 Flanders I
[Fragment with music from Flanders' Ancient Ballads, 1966; version I.
R. Matteson 2014]
I. Henry Ashford, of Groton, Vermont, who lived his early years in New Brunswick, remembered these few lines as he heard, his father sing them. Because he felt shy about singing, he played the tune on his fiddle. H. H. F., Collector- June 22, 1937.
Structure: A B CD (2,2,2,2); Rhythmic but divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale: major
Fair Margaret and Sweet William
" 'Tis now I will go to my chambers above
And I'll never come down any more."
* * * *
Sweet William he died on his wedding day.
Fair Margaret she died on the morrow.
Out or Fair Margaret's breast grew a red, red rose,
And out of Sweet William there growed a briar.
And they growed up to the high church top
Where they could not grow no higher,
Then they knotted in a true lover's knot,
Both the red rose and the briar.