Charlie / Weevily Wheat

[ Roud 729 ; Ballad Index R520 ; trad.]

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

A fresh setting on the British-American jingle about Prince Charlie with verses from Seventeen Come Sunday. The tune is from Jean Ritchie's Singing Family of the Cumberlands and the extra words are traditional.

Lyrics

Shirley Collins sings Charlie

Oh, Charlie's neat and Charlie's sweet and Charlie he's a dandy
And ev'ry time he goes to town he brings me sugar candy.
And I don't want none o' your weevily wheat and I don't want none o' your barley
Just take some flour in half an hour and bake a cake for Charlie.

It's Charlie here and it's Charlie there, Charlie over the ocean,
Oh, Charlie he'll be back again if he don't change his notion.
My pretty little pink, I once did think I'd never do without you
But since I lost all hopes of you I care very little about you.

How old are you, my pretty little miss? How old are you, my honey?
If I don't die of a broken heart I'll be sixteen on Sunday.
Oh, rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, rink-to-my-dink to my doodle,
Rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, and a rink-to-my-dink to my doodle.

Now can you court, my pretty little miss? And can you court, my flower?
I'll court more in a minute and a half than you can in an hour.
Oh, rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, rink-to-my-dink to my doodle,
Rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, and a rink-to-my-dink to my doodle.

Will you marry me, my pretty little miss? Will you marry me, good lookin'?
I'll marry you but I won't do your washin' or your cookin'.
Oh, rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, rink-to-my-dink to my doodle,
Oh, rink-to-my-dink to my diddle-die-dum, and a rink-to-my-dink to my doodle.

Oh, Charlie he's a nice young man, Charlie he's a dandy
And every time he goes to town he brings me sugar candy.
And I don't want none o' your weevily wheat, I don't want none o' your barley
Just take some flour in half an hour and bake a cake for Charlie.

It's Charlie here and it's Charlie there, Charlie over the ocean,
Oh, Charlie he'll be back again if he don't change his notion.