Nancy Kerr & James Fagan - Searching for Lambs

 

As I rode out one May morning,

One May morning betimes,

I met a maid, from home had strayed,

All as the sun did shine.

"What makes you rise so soon, my love,

Your journey to pursue?

Your pretty little feet they tread so neat,

Strike off the morning dew."

"I’m off to feed my father’s flocks,

His young and tender lambs,

That over hills and over dales

Lie waiting for their dams."

"But stay, o stay, you handsome maid,

And rest a moment here.

For there is none but you alone

That I do love so dear."

"How gloriously the sun doth shine,

How lovely is the air.

I’d rather rest on my true love’s breast

Than any other where."

"Now thou art mine and I am thine,

And no man shall uncomfort me.

We’ll join our hands in wedlock bands

And married we shall be."

      A real classic English folksong gem collected in Somerset by Cecil Sharp, in 1904. I first heard this sung by the legendary English folksinger Shirley Collins on one of her recordings. The beautiful almost aching melody gives this song such a depth and angle in relation to the story.