I’m just curious to know if anyone can help me track down this English folk classic John Riley* in a playable form for the D whistle. There are guitar tabs around, I know, but I’ve come across little luck looking for an ABC or Score file.
Naturally, I’ve tried the usual solutions; thesession.org, JC’s ABC Tune Match. Just wondering if anyone has it tucked away in their archives somewhere.
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*Could also be called “Stranger on Horseback”, or a few other names. The lyrics are fairly famous though and little changed:
Fair young maid all in her garden
Strange young man come riding by
Saying: fair young maid will you marry me?
And this dear sir was her reply
Oh no dear sir I cannot marry thee
For I’ve a love who sails the deep salt sea
Though he’s been gone for seven years
Still no man shall marry me
What if he’s died all in some battle slain?
Or if he’s drownded in the deep salt sea
What if he’s found another love
He and his new love both married be?
Well if he’s died all in some battle slain
Or if he’s drownded in the deep salt sea
I’ll remember his good name
And still no man shall marry me.
And if he’s found some other love
He and his true love both married be
I wish them health and happiness
Where they now live all across the sea
He picked her up all in his arms
And kisses gave her one two and three
Saying weep no more my own true love
For I’m your long lost John Riley
I beg to differ – this basic song is super common, and I must have at least a half-dozen recordings of it, all with different lyrics. Heck, none of the versions I know even mention the suitor’s name!
Dervish recorded it as “There was a maid in her father’s garden”, Pamela Morgan as “Seven Years”, Bohola as “There Was a Lady”, etc.
As I’ve done a little poking around I’ve found several of the different versions you allude to. I didn’t know that Dervish had done one though, which album is it on? I’m a big fan of Harmony Hill but only slowly branching out.
There was a maid in her father’s garden
And a gentleman he came passing by,
He stood awhile to gaze upon her
And he said fair maid would you fancy I.
But I’m not a lady I’m a poor girl,
A poor man’s daughter of a low degree,
Therefore young man find some other sweetheart
For your servant maid I’m not fit to be.
It’s seven years since I had a true love,
Seven more since I did him see,
And seven more I will wait upon him,
But if he’s alive he’ll come back to me.
If he’s sick I will wish him better,
If he’s dead I will wish him rest,
But if he’s alive I will wait upon him,
He’s the only young man I do love best.
It’s seven years since you had a true love,
Seven more since you did him see,
And seven more you will wait upon him,
Perhaps that young man you ne’er will see.
He put a hand down in his pocket,
His gentle fingers they were thin and small,
And up between them he pulled a gold ring
And when she saw it she down did fall.
He picked her up all in his arms
And gave her kisses most tenderly,
Saying I’m your true love and single sailor
Who came o’er the sea for to wed with thee.
If you’re my true love and single sailor
Your gentle features they look strange to me,
But seven years make great alterations
O’er the raging seas between you and me.
Sorry, missed this question the first time around! It’s on Midsummer’s Night.
I was posting because I found a page with three versions from the Newfoundland Peacock collection – including one with five additional verses that come after the end of every other version I’ve ever seen! – plus commentary. I gave my wife the Peacock Collection on CD-ROM for Christmas, I’ll have to check it to see what the Newfoundland version sounds like.
