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The Brown Girl

by Martin Carthy And Dave Swarbrick

on Skin And Bone (1992)

She said, I am brown as brown can be, I have eyes like a sloe,
I'm brisk as the nightingale, wild as any doe.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

Said, my love wrote a letter, a love letter from town,
That he could not love me 'cause I was so brown.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

I sent it back again, I valued him not,
Whether he loved me or whether he not.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

Now six months being over being over and past,
He wrote another letter he was sick unto death.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

There never was a doctor could his pain relieve,
Would you go to him speedy and his life redeem?

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

Now you'll hear the love she had for this lovesick man,
All that summer day she would walk, she'd not run.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

Yes you'll hear the love she had for this lovesick man,
She was a whole summer day in the mire walking on.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

When she come to his bedside where he lay so weak,
She could not for laughing stand up on her feet.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee

And I'll do as much for my love as any young girl may,
I'll dance upon his grave for a twelve month and a day.

She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee