The Nutting Girl
Sung by Cyril Poacher (with melodeon and chorus).
Recorded by Alan Lomax and Peter Kennedy in Blaxhall, Suffolk, England, in 1954.
Now come all you jovial fellows, come listen to my song,It is a little ditty and it won't contain you long.
It's of a fair young damsel, she lived down in Kent,
Arose one summer's morning, she a-nutting went.
With my fal-lal, to my ral-tal-lal,
Whack -fol-the-dear-ol-day.
And what few nuts that poor girl had,
She threw them all away.
Now it's of a brisk young farmer, was ploughing of his land,
He called unto his horses, to bid them gently stand,
As he sit down upon his plough, all for a song to sing,
His voice was so melodious, it made the valleys ring.
It's of this fair young damsel, she was nutting in the wood,
His voice was so melodious, it charmed her as she stood.
In that lonely wood she could no longer stay,
And what few nuts she had, poor girl, she threw them all away.
She then came to young Johnny, as he sit on his plough.
She said, "Young man, I really feel I cannot tell you how."
He took her to some shady broom, and there he laid her down.
Said she, "Young man, I think I feel the world go round and round."
Additional verses:
[Now, come all you young women, this warning by me take,
If you should a-nuttin' go, please get home in time,
For if you should stay too late, to hear the ploughboy sing,
You might have a young farmer, to nurse up in the spring. ]