Print This Page#01908 Print This Page
Ye rambling boys of pleasure,
Take heed to these words I write,
I see you are a roving lad,
In that I took great delight;
I fell in love with a handsome man,
Who ofttimes did me slight,
But my mind was never easy,
Till he was by my side.
It was down by the banks of the river Lea,
First I saw this man,
'Twas there I saw my own true love,
These words to him did say:
"I see you take love easy like
The green leaves on the tree."
But he being so young and so foolish,
With me he would not agree.
'Twas the second time I saw this man,
I knew his heart was mine,
But like the weather it do change,
This young man did change his mind;
He said, "Gold is the root of all evil,
It do shone like the glittering dew,
It's the cause of a lad and a lass for to part,
Though their hearts be ever so true."
Now there is one thing that do grieve me,
To be called a runaway,
To leave where I was born-ed in,
May kind heaven pity me;
To leave the ones I love behind,
But alas, what can I do?
And tonight he'll go courting another young girl,
A girl I don't know who.
How I wish I were in Willow town,
My true love with me,
And money to support us,
Keep us in good company;
With money to support us,
Both growing old at each other's side,
Misfortune will never daunt us,
For we are young and the world is wide.
This variant arranged and recorded by Pamela Morgan of Grand Falls, NL, on her second solo album (Seven Years, trk#5, 2002, Amber Music, Topsail, NL).
