The Nightingales Sing (4)

One morning, one morning, one morning in May
I spied a young couple, a goin' this way
One was a lady, a lady so fair
The other a soldier, a brave Grenadier.

Good morning, good morning, good morning to thee
O where are you going, my pretty lady?
O, I'm going to walk to the banks of the sea;
To see waters gliding, hear the nightingales sing.

They had not been standing but a moment or two
When out of his knapsack a fiddle he drew
And the tune that he played made the valleys to ring
"Hark! Hark!" cried the lady, "hear the nigntingales sing."

"Pretty lady, pretty lady, it's time to give o'er"
"O no", cried the lady,"please play one tune more
I'd rather hear your fiddle, and the touch of one string
Than to see waters gliding, hear the nightingales sing."

"O soldier, O soldier, will you marry me?"
'O no, pretty lady, that never can be
I've a wife in old England and children twice three
Two wives in the army's too many for me."

"I'll go back to London and stay for a year
And drink wine and whiskey, instead of small beer
But if ever I return it'll be in the spring
Just to see waters gliding, hear the nightingales sing."

note: an Appalachian version. Tune has been adapted to
Patriot Games, God On our Side RG
Recorded by Jean Ritchie, Doc Watson
DT #340
Laws P14
play.exe NTNGALE4.1
RG