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A party of soldiers one night in a camp
Were talking of sweethearts they had;
They all seemed so gay with the exception of one,
Who seemed so downhearted and sad.
Come join us together, his comrades did say,
For surely somebody loves you;
Then turning his head he proudly said,
Oh, boys, I'm in love with two.
For one has hair of that silvery grey,
And the other is just like gold;
One is gay and youthful,
While the other is bent and old.
They are the pride of my life to me,
And from them I never will part;
For one is my mother, God bless her, I love her,
And the other is my sweetheart.
My sweetheart is one of those hardworking girls,
And to her I intend to get wed;
But father says no, it can never be so,
You must marry a lady instead.
Your mother is old and that's quite enough,
For to marry her when she was poor;
She says, cheer up, Jack, she'll be your wife yet,
And father will consent now, I'm sure.
For one has hair of that silvery grey,
And the other is just like gold;
One is gay and youthful,
While the other is bent and old.
They are the pride of my life to me,
And from them I never will part;
For one is my mother, God bless her, I love her,
And the other is my sweetheart.
Collected in 1951 from Albert DeWitt of Tors Cove, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was recorded in 1935 as Two Sweethearts by the Carter Family (Bluebird B-6106 / Montgomery Ward M-4433).
