One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14]

DESCRIPTION: A (soldier) and a pretty girl meet; they chat and he plays on the fiddle for her. When she asks him to play more, he says it is time to leave. She asks him to marry; he already has a wife and children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety)
KEYWORDS: soldier courting separation marriage fiddle
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(Scotland,England(Lond,North,South)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (59 citations):
Laws P14, "The Nightingale (One Morning in May)"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "BOLD GRENADIER, THE"
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 185, "The Nightingales Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SongsAndSouthernBreezes, pp. 210-211, "To Hear the Nightingales Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 495, "To Hear the Nightingale Sing" (1 text)
OShaughnessy-MoreFolkSongsFromLincolnshire 2, "The Bold Grenadier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #93, "The Grenadier and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harding-FolkSongsOfLancashire, p. 95, "The Watter Rattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 60, "Nightingales Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #77, "Bold Grenadier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brocklebank/Kindersley-DorsetBookOfFolkSongs, p. 21, "Grenadier and Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 239-244, "The Nightingale" (3 texts plus 2 excerpts and a reference to 1 more, 2 tunes)
Randolph 58, "One Morning in May" (3 texts plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt, 1 tune plus a fragment)
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, pp. 14-15, "The English Soldier And The Irish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 13, "One Morning in May" (1 text plus a fragment and mention of 2 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 13, "One Morning in May" (5 tunes plus excerpts of texts)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #192, "The Nightingale" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Riddle-ASingerAndHerSongs, pp. 23-25, "The Nightingale Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 97, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 60-61, "I Was Out Walking" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 14, pp. 27-28, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, p. 95, "The Soldier and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, p. 31, "The Soldier and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 310-311, "One Morning in May" (2 texts, with local titles "See the Waters Gliding," "One Morning, One Morning, One Morning in May"; 2 tunes on pp. 438-439)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 103, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, pp. 81-82, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 164-165, "The Banks of Low Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 594-595, "The Soldier and the Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-FolkSongsFromNewfoundland 77, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 744-745, "One Morning in May (The Nightingale)" (1 text)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol1, p. 68, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 112-113, "Nightingale" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, p. 92, "The Nightingale" (1 text)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #24A-C, pp. 94-98, "The Nightingale," "One Morning in May" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol2, pp. 73-75, "The Brave Volunteer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 122-123, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 40, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 130, "A Bold, Brave Bonair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 145, "The Nightingale" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 47, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 40, "The Bod Grenadied, or The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wells-TheBalladTree, p. 222, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 17, "The Bold Grenadier" (4 texts)
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 40-41, "See the Waters A-Gliding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 136-138, "One Morning in May" (2 texts, 1 tune, but only the "A" text is this piece; the "B" text is "The Rebel Soldier")
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 198, "The Wild Rippling Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, pp. 52-53, "Fiddling Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 3, "The Wild Rippling Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart-FaberBookOfBallads, p. 237, "The Wild Rippling Water" (1 text)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 45, "The Lady and the Soldier" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Warner-FolkSongsAndBalladsOfTheEasternSeaboard, pp. 41-42, "One Morning in May" (1 text)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 68-70, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 137-138, "One Morning in May" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 166, "One Morning In May (The Nightingale)" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Andra Joy Hamilton, "A Garland of Ballads from Caldwell County", Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jul 1955), p. 10, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 10, "One Morning in May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN277, "As I went forth one Sun-Shining day"
DT 340, NTNGALE NTNGALE2* NTNGALE3* NTNGALE4
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #2 (1973), p, 18, "The Brave Volunteer" (1 text, 1 tune, the Bob Beers version)
Roud #140
RECORDINGS:
Raymond & John Cantwell, "The Soldier and the Lady" (on FSB02, FSB2CD)
Liam Clancy, "The Nightingale" (on IRLClancy01)
Coon Creek Girls, "The Soldier and the Lady" (Vocalion 05404, 1940; rec. 1938)
Bill Cox, "Fiddling Soldier" (Melotone 7-08-70, 1937)
Betty Garland, "One Morning in May" (on BGarland01)
Mrs. Jack [Vera] Keating, "The Weaver" (on Ontario1)
Neil Morris, "The Irish Soldier and the English Lady" (on LomaxCD1707)
Howard Morry, "The Soldier and the Lady" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier and the Lady" (on NLCR13)
Shorty & Juanita Sheehan, "The Soldier and the Lady" (on FineTimes)
Marvin Thornton & Fort Thomas group, "The Soldier and the Lady" (AFS, 1938; on KMM)
Doug Wallin, "The Nightingale" (on Wallins1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gentleman Soldier" (plot)
cf. "Across the Blue Mountains" (theme)
cf. "The Crystal Spring" (plot)
cf. "1913 Massacre" (tune)
cf. "Harbour Le Cou" (theme)
cf. "The Nightingale (IV) (As I walked out one May morning my fortune for to seek)" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bold Grenadier
The Nightingale's Song, or the Soldier's Rare Musick and Maid's Recreation
File: LP14

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