THE NIGHTINGALE SONG
(ONE MORNING IN MAY)
Sung by: Ricky and Mary Annette Johnson

 Click here to listen to the original recording
(Jimmy Driftwood: "Aw, these boys just talking about the dancers. This fiddler, he thinks that one of the dancers had some cockleburs in his britches, or something. I don't know. We got two fine kids coming out here now, Ricky and . . .")

. . . making their way,
One was a lady so young and so free,
And the other was a soldier, and a brave one was he.

“Oh, where are you going?” asked the soldier so free.
“I’m going to the river; it’s sparkling for me.
I’m going to the river down by that great spring
Just to see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.”

“May I go with you as we journey along?
May I go with you? I’ll sing you a song?
I’ll sing ‘The Lady of London,’ make the violin ring,
And see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.”

They had not been there more than an hour or two
‘Til out from his satchel a violin he drew.
He played ‘The Lady of London,’ made the violin ring,
And they see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.

Said the soldier to the lady, “It is time we should go.”
“Oh, no,” said the lady, “. . . one tune more.
I’d rather hear your fiddle, one tap on the string,
Than to see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.”

Then he tuned up his fiddle in a higher key,
Played ‘The Shamrock of Erin,’ and he played it so free.
Played ‘The Shamrock of Erin,’ he made the violin ring,
And they see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.

Said the lady to the soldier, “Won’t you marry me?”
“Oh, no,” cried the soldier, “That never could be.
I’ve got a sweet wife in Scotland, and children twice three.
So you know that that’s a-plenty, too many for me.”

“Goodbye,” said the soldier, with a parting caress,
“Tomorrow I’m going to the throne of Queen Bess.
If I ever return, it’ll be to this great spring,
Just to see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.”

“Farewell,” said the lady as she gave him her hand,
“I’ll think of you often in Erin’s fair land.
I’d rather hear your fiddle, one tap on the string,
Than to see the water sliding, hear the nightingale sing.”

Also found in Randolph, Vol. I, #58, “One Morning in May”; Brown, Vol. III, #13, “One Morning in May”; Belden, p. 239, “The Nightingale.”

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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