If you want a buzzem, for to sweep your house, Come to my bonnies, you may have your choice. Buy broom buzzems, buy them when they’re new, Fine heather bred ones, better never grew. Buzzems for a penny, rangers for a plack, If you will not buy, I’ll tie them on my back. Buy broom buzzems, buy them when they’re new, Fine heather bred ones, better never grew. If I had a horse, I would have a cart, If I had a man, he would take my part. Had I a husband, I’d care not what he be, If he’s but a man, that’s enough for me.
Five North Country Folk Songs
by Don Banks (1923 - 1980)
1. Buy Broom Buzzems  [sung text checked 1 time]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. My Bonny Lad  [sung text checked 1 time]
‘Have you seen ought of my bonny lad, And are you sure he’s well, oh? He’s gone over land with his stick in his hand, He’s gone, to moor the keel, oh!’ ‘Yes, I’ve seen your bonny lad, Up on the sea I spied him, His grave is green, but not with grass, You’ll never lie aside him.’
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]3. King Arthur’s Servants  [sung text checked 1 time]
In good King Arthur's days, He was a merry king, [He turned three servants out of doors]1 Because they wouldn't sing. The first he was a miller, [The]2 second he was a weaver [The]2 third he was a little tailor; Three thieving rogues together. The miller he stole corn, [The]2 weaver he stole yarn, [The]2 little tailor he stole broadcloth [To]3 keep these three rogues warm. The miller [was]4 drowned in his dam, [The]2 weaver [was hanged in his farm]5, [The]2 devil [ran off with the little tailor With his]6 broadcloth under his arm.
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Les domestiques du roi Arthur", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, ed. by L. Edna Walter, illustrated by Charles Folkard, London: A. & C. Black, 1922, page 137.
1 Shostakovich: "He threw three servants out of his house"2 Shostakovich: "And the"
3 Shostakovich: "For to"
4 Shostakovich: "he"
5 Banks: "was hanged in his yarn"; Shostakovich: "he hung on his yarn"
6 Shostakovich: "put his foot on the little tailor/ With the"
Researcher for this page: Martin Jahn
4. Bonny at Morn  [sung text checked 1 time]
The sheep's in the [meadow]1, The [kye's]2 in the corn, Thou's [ower lang]3 in thy bed, Bonny at morn, Canny at night, Thou's [ower lang]3 in thy bed, Bonny at morn. The bird's in the [bush]4, The trout's in the burn; Thou [hinderest]5 thy mother In many a turn. Canny at night, Bonny at morn, Thou's ower lang in thy bed, Bonny at morn. We're all laid idle Wi' keeping the bairn, [The lass wi' net learn, The lad wi' net work]6. Canny at night, Bonny at morn, Thou's ower lang in thy bed, Bonny at morn.
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- from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Bonny at Morn"
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Beau le matin", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Niedlich am Morgen", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Confirmed with Littell's Living Age, Volume 198, page 376.
1 Britten: "meadows"2 Banks: "cow's"
3 Banks: "overlong"
4 Banks, Britten: "nest"
5 Banks, Britten: "hinders"
6 Banks: "The lad will not work/ and the lass will not learn"; Britten: "The lad winnot work/ And the lass winnot lairn"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Virginia Knight
5. O the Bonny Fisher Lad  [sung text checked 1 time]
O the bonny fisher lad, that brings the fishes from the sea, O the bonny fisher lad, the fisher lad got hold of me. On Bamborough shire’s rocky shore. Just as you enter Boumer Row, There lives the bonny fisher lad, the fisher lad that beats them all. My mother sent me out one day to gather cockles from the sea, But I had not been long away when the fisher lad got hold of me A sailor I will never marry, nor soldier for he’s got no brass, But I will have a fisher lad, because I am a fisher lass.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]