Lovely Georgie- Simmonds (NL) 1930 Greenleaf
[From: Ballads and Sea-Songs of Newfoundland - Page 40 by Elizabeth Bristol Greenleaf, Grace Yarrow Mansfield - 1933. Kittredge's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
For the relation of this song to the eighteenth-century broadside of "George of Oxford" (Child, IV, 141; Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, Vll, 70) see Belden, Journal, xx, 319. For references see Cox, No. 23. Add Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 475; Shoemaker, pp. ]62-163; Ord, pp. 456-457; Keith, No. 62.
LOVELY GEORGIE (GEORDIE, CHILD, No. 209) Communicated by Mrs. Maude Roberts Simmonds, Glenburnie, Bonne Bay, 1930.
1 As I roved out one May morning
One May morning so early,
And who should I spy but a comely maid,
A-pleading the life of Georgie?
2 "What have puir Georgie done, fair maid?
Have be killed or murdered anybody?"
"He have stolen three of the king's fair deer
And sold them in Virginie."
3 She rode till she came to the king's fair court
And people she saw many,
But among them all spied her own true love
That grieved her more than any.
4 King looked over his left shoulder
And words then he said many;
He says, "Fair maid, you have come too late,
Your Georgie is condemned already."
5 King looked over his right shoulder
And words then he said many;
He says, "Fair maid, you have come too late,
Your Georgie is condemned already."
6 "My Georgie shall be hung with golden chains,
Such chains there are not many,
With gold all laid to cover him in,
Saying, 'There lies the body of Georgie.'
7. "If I had my Georgie on yonder hill,
It's kisses he'd get many;
With sword and pistol by my side,
I would fight for the life of Georgie."