The Ploughboy

I once was a ploughboy but a soldier I am now,
I courted lovely Molly, a milkmaid I vow;
I courted lovely Molly, I delighted in her charms,
And many's a long night I rolled in her arms,
With me ran tan nor the laddy fol da di doe.

So adieu, lovely Molly, I now must away,
There's great providence and promotion in crossing the sea;
And if ever I return it will be in the spring,
When the lark and the linnet and the nightingale sing,
With me ran tan nor the laddy fol da di doe.

You can go to all the markets, the gatherings and fairs,
You can go to church on Sunday and choose your love there;
And if anybody loves you as well as I do,
I won't try to stop your wedding, love, so fare thee well adieu,
With me ran tan nor the laddy fol da di doe.

I will build me love a castle at the head of the town,
Where neither lord, duke or earl will e'r pull it down;
And if anybody asks you where you are from,
You can tell them you're a stranger from the County Tyrone,
With me ran tan nor the laddy fol da di doe.

She sent to me a posie of the red rose so fine,
I sent to her another it was rue mixed with thyme;
Saying you can keep your red rose and I can keep my thyme,
And you can drink to your true love and I can drink to mine,
With me ran tan nor the laddy fol da di doe.

####.... Author unknown. Variant of The Ploughboy, collected in Northern Ireland in 1928 by Sam Henry (1878-1952) and published as #H780, on pp.345-346 in Sam Henry's Songs Of The People, edited, transcribed, and annotated by E. Gale Huntingdon (1901-1993); revised with additions and indices by Lani Herrmann (University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA, 1990). Arranged by The Navigators (Dance And Sing, 2002, SOCAN) ....####

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