As I Roved Out (2) As I roved out on a bright May morning To view the meadows and flowers gay Whom should I spy but my own true lover As she sat under yon willow tree I took off my hat and I did salute her I did salute her most courageously When she turned around well the tears fell from her Sayin' "False young man, you have deluded me A diamond ring I owned I gave you A diamond ring to wear on your right hand But the vows you made, love, you went and broke them And married the lassie that had the land" "If I'd married the lassie that had the land, my love It's that I'll rue till the day I die When misfortune falls sure no man can shun it I was blindfolded I'll ne'er deny" Now at nights when I go to my bed of slumber The thoughts of my true love run in my mind When I turned around to embrace my darling Instead of gold sure it's brass I find And I wish the Queen would call home her army From the West Indies, Amerikay and Spain And every man to his wedded woman In hopes that you and I will meet again. ------------------------------------------------------------- recorded by Planxty on "The Well Below The Valley" (1973) and performed by Richard Thompson live 1990 There are two songs of this name on that Planxty album, this is the one sung by Andy Irvine. "We learned this sad and beautiful song from the singing of Paddy Tunney who lives in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. He has described it as dating back to the days of the famine, when any bit of property at all was enough to tempt a man to jilt his true love in favour of the 'lassie with the land'" - Andy Irvine The last verse seems slightly displaced and doesn't really fit with the rest. MJ
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