Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics, midis & Mp3
Broken Hearted I Wandered
Broken Hearted I Wandered
Broken Hearted I Wandered
1.
Broken hearted I wandered,
For the loss of my true lover,
He's a jolly, jolly horseman,
In the battle he was slain.
He had but one sixpence,
And he broke it in two,
And he gave to me the half o't
Before he went away.
He wrote me a letter
In the month of November,
And he told me not to worry
As he was coming home.
2.
Broken-hearted we parted
At the loss of my beloved
He was a jolly sailor
And in battle he was killed.
He had a silver sixpence
And he broke it in two
And he gave me the one half
Before he went away.
He wrote me a letter
And sealed it with his hands
And he told me not to worry
For he was coming home.
Oh were I an angel
And had I wings that I might fly
I'd go to yonder valley
Where my beloved lies.
3.
Broken-hearted I wander,
At the loss of my brother;
He's a jolly, jolly fellow,
At the battle he was slain;
He had a silver sixpence,
And he broke it in twae,
And he gave me the half o't
Before he went away.
If I were an angel
I would fly to the skies,
And far beyond the mountains
Where my dear brother lies.
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(1) Skipping song; MacColl, Streets of Song, no. 24. "Both
feet together and turning a half circle at each skip.
Learned in Glasgow as a child. The song is also used
for a ring game in Scotland."
Ritchie Singing Street (1964), 29, has a version from
Edinburgh, c. 1918, very close to this. Differs: 1.2 At the
loss of my beloved: 1.3 soldier 1.4 And to battle he must go.
2.1 He gave me a silver sixpence [And an addendum:] Sweet
home/ Marrow bone/ Treacle scone/ Ice-cream cone/ Uncle John!
(2) Ritchie op. cit.,95.
(3) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 148, from Gorgie
Public School, Edinburgh. The music "is evidently an
adaptation of `Hallelujah to the Lamb'."
MS