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As I rose up one May morning,
One May morning so early;
I overtook a pretty, fair maid,
Just as the sun was dawning.
With my rue rum ray,
Fother diddle ay,
Wok fol air diddle i-do.
Her stockings white, and her boots were bright,
And her buckling shone like silver;
She had a dark and a rolling eye,
And her hair hung round her shoulder.
"Where are you going, my pretty, fair maid,
Where are you going, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully,
"I've an errand for my mummy."
"How old are you, my pretty, fair maid,
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully,
"I am seventeen come Sunday."
"Will you take a man, my sweet pretty maid,
Will you take a man, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully,
"I darst not for my mummy.
Will you come down to my mummy's house,
When the moon is shining clearly?
If you come down, I'll let you in,
And me mummy shall not hear me."
I went down to her mummy's house,
When the moon shone bright and clearly?
She did come down, and let me in,
And I lay in her arms till morning.
"Oh, it's now I am with my soldier lad,
His ways they are so winning;
The drum and fife are my delight,
And a pint o' rum in the morning."
This variant recorded by Kenneth Peacock on the album Songs and Ballads of Newfoundland, Folkways FG 3505, LP (1956) Cut #B.07.
Two variants were collected by Kenneth Peacock and published as I'll Be Seventeen Come Sunday in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, by The National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
A variant was also recorded as As I Roved Out by The Fables (A Time, 2000).
A variant was also recorded as As I Roved Out by Rankin Street (Pre-GBS tape — Live At The Blarneystone Pub in St. John's, NL, trk#16, 1991, NRA Productions, Ltd).
See more songs by Great Big Sea.
Another variant was arranged and recorded as As I Roved Out by Ryan's Fancy (Irish Love Songs, Boot Records 1982.
