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Blackbirds and Thrushes

[ Roud 12657 ; Ballad Index ShH36 ; trad.]

Shirley Collins sang Blackbirds and Thrushes in 1959 on her first LP, Sweet England. The album's notes comment:

An English lyric song from Sharp's collection of English Folk Songs.

Lyrics

As I was a-walking for my recreation,
Down by the green meadows I silently strayed.
There I met a fair maid making great lamentation,
“Oh, Jimmy will be slain in the wars I'm afraid.”

The blackbirds and thrushes sing in the green bushes,
The larks and the doves seem to mourn for this maid.
And the song she sang was concerning her lover;
“Oh, Jimmy will be slain in the wars I'm afraid.”

When Jimmy returned with his heart full of yearning,
He found his dear Mary all dead in her grave.
He cried, “I'm forsaken, my poor heart is breaking,
I wish that I never had left this fair maid.”