Young Rambleaway
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
As I was a-going to Derry Down Fair
With my neat scarlet cloak and everything rare,
In order to entice all the buxom and gay
Who wished for to go with young Rambleaway.
Rambleaway,
Who wished for to go with young Rambleaway.
The very first steps I put into the fair
I spied pretty Nancy a-combing her hair.
I tipped her the wink and she rolled her dark eye,
Says I to myself, “I'll be there by and by,”
There by and by,
Says I to myself, “I'll be there by and by.”
As I was a-walking that night in the dark
I took pretty Nancy to be my sweetheart.
She smiled in my face and to me she did say,
“Ain't you the young man that's called Rambleaway?
Rambleaway,
Ain't you the young man that's called Rambleaway?”
Says I, “Pretty Nancy, don't smile in my face
For I do not intend to stay long in this place.”
So I give her three doubles and fair length and share
And I said that I'd ramble but didn't know where,
Didn't know where,
And I said that I'd ramble but didn't know where.
So come all you young maidens where'er you may be,
From this jolly bank wit I'll have you go free;
My hat, cap and feathers, my dear, you shall wear
And a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up your hair,
Tie up your hair,
And a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up your hair.
"Young Rambleaway", also known as "Derry Down Fair", "Brocklesby Fair", "Brocklesby Fair",<br> "Brimbledown Fair", "Burlington Fair" and many similar names, is an English ballad that is known<br> in many locations from south to north.<br> According to Peter Kennedy, the titles are probably all a corruption of Birmingham Fair, which<br> appears in an old broadside. The tune appears in William Baring Gould's 1891 collection.<br> Versions of Rambleaway have been collected in Devonshire by Baring-Gould, in Dorset<br> by the Hammond Brothers, in Hampshire by George Gardiner, in Somerset by Cecil Sharp and in<br> Yorkshire by Frank Kidson. Peter Kennedy recorded a version for the BBC from Alec Bloomfield of<br> Framlingham in Suffolk who places the song’s activity in Burlington Fair, a corruption of<br> Birmingham Fair, the title given to the song by early 19th century broadside printers such as<br> Jackson of Birmingham.<br> This popular song was published by many broadside printers and was<br> collected extensively in the West Country. H.E.D. Hammond noted down the song from William Barrett<br> in Piddletown, Dorset in 1905 and Cecil Sharp collected three versions including one sung to him<br> in 1904 by Jim Woodland at Stocklinch, Somerset.<br> It was recorded by<br> Gordon Bok on A Rogue's Gallery Of Songs For 12-String (1983),<br> The Young Tradition on The Young Tradition (1966),<br> John Roberts and Tony Barrand on Spencer the Rover Is Alive and Well (1971),<br> Jean Redpath on Jean Redpath (1975),<br> It was printed in<br> Grieg's The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, Volume 7 (1997),<br> Sharp's One Hundred English Folksongs (1916),<br> Sharp's Folk Songs from Somerset (Series 3, 1906),<br> Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (1975),<br> Reeves' The Everlasting Circle, (1960),<br> Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1999),<br> Roud and Bishop's The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (2012) and<br> Beck's The Folklore of Maine (1957).<br> It appears in the Roud Folk Song Index as #171.<br>
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