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THE GREEN VALLEY (Roud 2125)
The folk songs of the UK are rich with visceral material about human relationships. This is one such treasure, succinctly narrating a dizzying love affair, a pregnancy and a desertion. All the confusion, torment and pain of those times when love turns suddenly to ashes can be found here. This song was collected in Shetland from the singing of Bruce Laurenson of Bressay, by Pat Shuldham-Shaw.

lyrics

A young man courted me all on sly,
And with his vices I did comply,
With his false vows and flattering tongue
He beguiled me, love, when I was young.

When I sat down at my love's right hand,
He swore by Heav'n, by sea and land
That the rising sun he never would see,
If ever that he proved false to me.

For nine long months, he proved true and kind,
But a short time after, he changed his mind.
He changed his mind to a high degree,
And bid farewell to yon green valley.

"O I mind the promise I made to you,
But I'll have no more to do with you.
My father's choice I must obey,
So it's farewell darling, I cannot stay".

So off he's gone, and I wish him well
For to get married, 'tis I hear tell.
My innocent babe I will tend and care,
And of his false vows he will soon be aware.

O am I bound, or am I free?
Or am I bound to marry thee?
A single life is the best I see,
A contented mind bears no slavery.

credits

from The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs, released May 1, 2022
Trad. Arr: Angeline Morrison
Vocals: Angeline Morrison
Mixed by Nick Duffy

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all rights reserved

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Angeline Morrison and The Ambassadors of Sorrow

"Bewitching and otherworldly... Morrison's voice is eerily confiding, strangely present, insistent even at its quietest" Folk Radio UK.

Believing in the beauty of sad songs, weaving folk, soul and beat sounds of the '60s into a tapestry of the human heart. Homespun sounds that reside in a nostalgic universe.

"Dark, unsettling folk that verges on the hymnal" BBC Introducing.
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