Henry's Songbook

• Blackwaterside #1

  (Trad) / Ireland

  One evening fair I took the air down by Blackwaterside
  And in gazing all around me 'twas the Irish lad I spied

  All for the first part of that night we two did sport and play
  Then that young man arose and gathered his clothes, saying, Fare thee well today

  That's not the promise you gave to me when you lay upon my breast
  For you made me believe with your lying tongue that the sun rose in the west

  Go home, go home to your father's garden, go home and cry your fill
  And think on your misfortune that you've wrought with your wanton will

  There's not one girl in this whole wide world so easily led as I
  The fishes will fly and the seas will run dry, sure it's then that you'll marry I

  As sung by Jean Redpath

   

• Blackwaterside #2

  As I roved out one morning fair, so early as I strayed
  It being all in the month of June the birds sang in the shade
  The sun shone down right merrily and billowing with pride
  Where primroses and daisies grow down by Blackwaterside

  I had not gone but half a mile when there by chance I spied
  Two lovers talking as they walked down by Blackwaterside
  And as he held her in his arms these words to her did say
  When I am in Amerikay I'll be true to my Irish maid

  'Tis when you are in Amerikay those Yankee girls you'll find
  And you'll have sweethearts of your own more pleasing to your mind
  Do not forget the promises and the vows you made to me
  Oh stay at home love do not roam from your bonnie Irish maid

  'Tis when I am in Amerikay those Yankee girls I'll see
  But they must be very handsome to remind me love of thee
  There's not a bloom in yonder grove nor a leaf in yonder glade
  That does remind me love of thee my bonnie Irish maid

  'Tis many the foolish youth, she said, has gone to some foreign shore
  Leaving his own true love behind all ne'er to see no more
  It's in crossing the Atlantic foam sometimes there graves are made
  Oh stay at home love do not roam from your bonnie Irish maid

  These two young hearts together so fondly did embrace
  Like dew upon the honey drops the tears fell down her face
  There's not a day while you're away I'll visit still these glades
  Until you do return again to your bonnie Irish maid

  As sung by Tom McDonagh on 'Horses for Courses'

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

• [1975:] Bert [Jansch] learnt the song from Annie Briggs who got it from A. L. Lloyd who, presumably, reworked it somewhat after having got it from either Mary or Paddy Doran's recordings (husband and wife had got quite different melodies, from his mother and her sister respectively) in the BBC archives. The Dorans are Irish tinkers. (Karl Dallas, notes 'The Electric Muse' 11)

• [1976:] Gedruckte Varianten gibt es als 'The Lovely Irish Maid', 'Down By Blackwaterside', 'Going To Church Last Sunday', 'Loving Hannah', 'The Irish Girl', 'I Am Too Young', 'The Squire and the Fair Maid', 'Abroad As I Was Walking' and 'Down By the Greenwood Side'. Sie sind in Schottland, Irland, England, USA und Kanada gesammelt worden. Man glaubt, daß das Lied einen englischen Ursprung hat; die Version, die Alex singt, ist aber zweifellos irisch. Er hörte das Lied zum erstenmal von Ann Briggs. (Michael Reinhardt, notes Alex Campbell, 'Big Daddy of Folk Music')

• [1987:] One of the finer variants on a common theme, [this] is Irish. The verses are probably already familiar from other songs, e.g., the English False Young Man and Bird In A Cage, Go down in your father's garden, love
  Sit down and cry your fill
  And when you think on what you've done
  You'll blame your own good will
  This melody I find irresistible. (Notes 'Jean Redpath')

• [1993:] Crossover between the Scottish and Irish traditions is nothing new; if a story's good it'll travel. Blackwaterside, with its happy-ending tale of parting and constancy, is one of a family of songs found all over the British Isles. (Notes Brian McNeill, 'Horses For Courses')

• more: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20109
  http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=34687#470327