Nutting Girl
(trad. arr. John Kirkpatrick)
Now come all you jovial fellows,
come listen to my song
It is a little ditty and it won't
detail you long
It's of a fair young damsel,
and she lived down in Kent
Arose one summer's morning,
and she a-nutting went
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away.
It's of a brisk young farmer,
was ploughing of his land
He called unto his horses,
to bid them gently stand
As he sit down upon his
plough, all for a song to sing
His voice was so melodious,
it made the valleys ring.
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away.
It's of this fair young damsel,
she was nutting in the wood
His voice was so melodious,
it charmed her as she stood
In that lonely wood, she could
no longer stay
And what few nuts she had,
poor girl, she threw them all away
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away
She then came to young Johnny,
as he sit on his plough
She said: ``Young man I really
feel I cannot tell you how''
She took her to some shady
broom, and there he laid her down
Said she: ``Young man,
I think I feel the world
go round and round''
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away.
He went back to his horses
to finish off his song
He said: ``My pretty fair
maid, your mother will think
you long''But she flung her
arms all round his neck
as they went o'er the plain
And she said: ``My dear, I
should like to see
the world go round again''
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away.
Now, come all you young women,
take warning by my song
If you should a-nutting go, don't
stay from home too long
For if you should stay too
late, to hear the ploughboy sing
You might have a young farmer
to nurse up in the spring
With my fal-lal to my ral-tal-lal
Whack-fol-the-dear-ol-day
And what few nuts that poor girl had
She
threw them all away.
-- originally sung by John Kirkpatrick on Morris On