Young British Waterman- Harvey (Essex) 1958 Kennedy
[From Peter Kennedy Collection online. Shelf mark C604/91. Recording date: 1958-02-28 The young British waterman (died for love) talk [0'52"] song [2'28"].
R. Matteson 2017]
"The Young British Waterman" as sung by Kitty Harvey of Thaxted , Essex and recorded by Peter Kennedy in February, 1958.
A young British waterman courted me,
He stole away my liberty,
My liberty is of a thing most rare,
Yet for all his faults , I love him still.
There is an old alehouse in the town,
Where my love goes and sits himself down,
He takes another young girl on his knee,
He laughs at her but frowns at me.
I wish that now my babe had been born,
And sat smiling on its father's knee,
And me poor girl were in a grave,
And the green grass growing over me.
There is a flower I've oft times been told,
A cure for love for both young and old,
And if I could but that flower find,
It would ease my heart and cheer my mind.
Then down to the meadow that fair damsel ran,
Plucking the flowers as they sprang,
To every flower she gave a pull,
Until she gained her apron full,
She gathered the green grass to make her a bed,
And a flowering pillow for her head,
Then she lay down and no more she spoke,
For at last, at last, her heart was broke.
Go dig her a grave both wide, long and deep,
With a marble stone at her head and feet,
And in the middle a turtle dove,
To tell the world she died of love.