One of the most famous traditional songs there are, I first learnt this for my ABRSM singing grades, which required an unaccompanied folk song. Although I have since learnt the guitar part, the song’s simplicity and dream-like quality come through so well without accompaniment that I have kept it as such.
lyrics
My young love said to me: "My mother won't mind,
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind."
Then she stepped away from me and this she did say:
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."
She stepped away from me and she moved through the fair,
And fondly I watched her move here and move there,
And then she went homeward with one star awake,
As the swan in the evening moves over the lake.
The people were saying no two e'er were wed,
But one has a sorrow that never was said,
And she smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.
Last night she came to me, she came softly in,
So softly she came that her feet made no din,
And she laid her hand on me and this she did say:
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."
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