My mother said I never should
Language: English
Our translations: DUT
My mother said I never should play with the gipsies in the wood. If I did, then she would say: “Naughty girl to disobey. Your hair shan’t curl and your shoes won’t shine. You gipsy girl, you won’t be mine”. The wood was dark, the grass was green, by came Sally with a tambourine. I went to sea, no ship to get across, so I paid a shilling for a blind white horse; I upped on his back and was off in a crack. Sally tell my mother that I’m never coming back.
J. Frandsen sets lines 1-2, 7-12
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Frandsen (b. 1956), "Gypsies in the Wood", 1987, lines 1-2,7-12 [ voice and guitar ], from Seven Silly Songs, no. 2, confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Ramiro Real (b. 1969), "My mother said", 2002 [ chorus ], from Three Nursery Rhymes, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Lidy van Noordenburg) , "Mijn moeder zei", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Lidy van Noordenburg
This text was added to the website: 2023-06-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 93