Digital Tradition Mirror

Broken Hearted I Wandered

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Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Broken Hearted I Wandered

     1.
     Broken hearted I wandered,
     For the loss of my true lover,
     He's a jolly, jolly horseman,
     In the battle he was slain.

     He had but one sixpence,
     And he broke it in two,
     And he gave to me the half o't
     Before he went away.

     He wrote me a letter
     In the month of November,
     And he told me not to worry
     As he was coming home.

     2.
     Broken-hearted we parted
     At the loss of my beloved
     He was a jolly sailor
     And in battle he was killed.

     He had a silver sixpence
     And he broke it in two
     And he gave me the one half
     Before he went away.

     He wrote me a letter
     And sealed it with his hands
     And he told me not to worry
     For he was coming home.

     Oh were I an angel
     And had I wings that I might fly
     I'd go to yonder valley
     Where my beloved lies.

     3.
     Broken-hearted I wander,
     At the loss of my brother;
     He's a jolly, jolly fellow,
     At the battle he was slain;
     He had a silver sixpence,
     And he broke it in twae,
     And he gave me the half o't
     Before he went away.
     If I were an angel
     I would fly to the skies,
     And far beyond the mountains
     Where my dear brother lies.
     ________________________________________________________

     (1) Skipping song; MacColl, Streets of Song, no. 24. "Both
     feet together and turning a half circle at each skip.
     Learned in Glasgow as a child.  The song is also used
     for a ring game in Scotland."
Ritchie Singing Street (1964), 29, has a version from
Edinburgh, c. 1918, very close to this.  Differs: 1.2 At the
loss of my beloved: 1.3 soldier 1.4 And to battle he must go.
2.1 He gave me a silver sixpence [And an addendum:] Sweet
home/ Marrow bone/ Treacle scone/ Ice-cream cone/ Uncle John!
     (2) Ritchie op. cit.,95.
     (3) Rymour Club Misc. I (1906-11), 148, from Gorgie
     Public School, Edinburgh. The music "is evidently an
     adaptation of `Hallelujah to the Lamb'."

MS

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!