Silver Dagger from Book One by Mary Hampton

Don't sing love songs, you'll wake my mother;
She's sleeping here close by my side
And in her right hand she holds a dagger
She says that I shan't be your bride.

All men are false, says my mother
They'll tell you wicked loving lies
And the very next evening, they'll court another
Leaving you alone to pine and sigh.

My father is a handsome devil
And there's a chain that's five miles long,
On every link a heart does dangle
Of some poor girl he's loved and gone.

I wish I was a little sparrow
And one of those that flies so high,
I'd fly away to my false true lover
And when he spoke I should deny.

Go court some other tender lady
I hope that she will be your wife,
For I've been warned and I've decided
To sleep alone all of my life.

• Folk
• art song
• chamber music
• experimental folk
• folksong
• lo-fi
• Rotherham