I am a Rover- Ted Nevill (Essex) 1904 Williams
[From Ralph Vaughan Williams Manuscript Collection (at British Library) (RVW2/2/38)
R. Matteson 2017]
"I am a Rover." Sung by Ted Nevill of Little Burstead Essex on April 16, 1904, collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
1. I am a rover, and tis well known,
I'm a just a-going to leave my home;
Leaving my parents to sign and mourn,
Farewell my bonny girl till I return.
2. O I sat down and wrote a song,
I wrote it wide and I wrote it long;
At every line I shed a tear,
At every verse, I cried, “Polly dear!”
3. “Am I single or am I free?
O am I bound to marry thee?
O a married life then you soon shall see,
Contented life shall no jealousy.”
4. As I was tripped over Dulcimoor
There I lost sight of my true love's door;
My heart did ache, and my eyes went blind,
Thinking of that bonny girl I’d left behind.
5. “I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain,
I wish in my heart I was a maid again;
A maid again I never shall be,
Till the apples grow on an orange tree.”