One Morning in May (aka the Nightingale) - Jean Ritchie

One morning, one morning

One morning in May

I met a fair couple a makin' their way

Oh one was a lady

So neat and so fair

The other was a soilder

And a brave volunteer

Good morning, good morning

Good morning to thee

Oh where are you going

My pretty lady

I’m a walking by the banks of the stream

To see the waters a gliding

Hear the nightingale sing

They had not been standing

But an hour or two

When out of his napsack

A fiddle he drew

And the tune that he played

Made the valleys all ring

O harken, said the lady

How the nightingale sing

Pretty lady, pretty lady

It’s time to give o’er

Oh no pretty soilder

Please play one tune more

For I’d rather hear your fiddle

Or the touch of one string

Than see the water’s a gliding

Hear the nightingale sing

Pretty soilder, pretty soilder

Won’t you marry me

Oh no pretty lady

That never can be

I have a wife in London

And children twice three

Two wives in the army’s

Too many for me

I’ll go back to London

And stay there one year

And often I’ll think of you

My little dear

And if ever I return it shall be in the Spring

To see the water’s a gliding

Hear the nightingale sing