Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker - The Banks of The Sweet Primroses
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Summary
The Banks of Sweet Primroses (Roud 586) is a well known and very popular traditional song which has been sung and recorded by many people. An excellent choice for Josienne Clark and Ben Walker, whose performance of this song won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for best duo in 2017.
Lyrics
As I walked out one midsummer morning
For to view the fields and to take the air,
Down by the banks of the sweet primroses
There I beheld a most lovely fair.
I said, “Fair maid, where are you going,
And what’s the occasion for all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant me one small relief”
She said, “Stand-off, you are deceitful,
You are deceitful and a false young man,
It is you that’s caused my poor heart to wander,
And to give me comfort lies all in vain.
“I will go down in some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth shall e’er me find,
Where the pretty little songbirds do change their voices,
And every moment blows blusterous winds.”
Come all young men that go a-courting,
Pray give attention to all I say.
There is many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a most sun-shiny day.
