One Hundred English Folksongs by Cecil J. Sharp (1916)
"The careful preservation of its folk music is to a nation a matter of the highest import"
"the most effective treatment to accord to the folksong is to sing it as simply and as straightforwardly as possible"
The Cuckoo
O the Cuckoo she's a pretty bird
She singeth as she flies
She bringeth good tidings
She telleth no lies
She sucketh white flowers
For to keep her voice clear
And the more she singeth cuckoo
The summer draweth near
The Sweet Primroses
As I was a walking one midsummer morning
A viewing the meadows and to take the air
'Twas down by the banks of the sweet primroses
When I beheld a most lovely Fair.
Mowing the Barley
A lawyer he went out one day
A for to take his pleasure
And who should he spy but some fair pretty maid
So handsome and so clever
Hares on the Mountains
Young women they'll run like hares on the mountains
Young women they'll run like hares on the mountains
If I were a young man, I'd soon go a-hunting
To my right fol diddle dere
To my right fol diddle dee
The Keys of Canterbury
O Madam, I will give you
The Keys of Canterbury
And all the bells in London
Shall ring to make us merry
If you will be my joy, my sweet and only dear
And walk along we me, anywhere
It's a Rosebud in June
It's a rosebud in June
And violets in full bloom
And the small birds singing love songs on each spray
We'll pipe and we'll sing, Love
We'll dance in a ring, Love
When each lad takes his lass all on the grass
All images - Copyright Sew Many Books
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