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The Banks of Claudy
Bob and Ron Copper
'Twas on one summer's evening all in the month of May,
Down by a flow'ry garden where Betsy did stray.
I overheard a damsel in sorrow to complain,
All for
her absent lover that ploughs the raging main.
I stepped up to this fair maid and put her in surprise,
She owned she did not know me, I being all in disguise.
I said, "My charming creature, my joy and heart's delight,
How far have you to travel this dark and rainy night?"
"Away, kind sir, to the Claudy banks if you will please to show,
Pity a poor girl distracted for there I have to go.
I am in search of a young man and Johnny is his name,
And on the banks of Claudy I'm told he does remain."
"If Johnny he was here this night he would keep me from all harm,
He's a-cruising the wide ocean in tempest and in storm,
He's a-cruising the wide ocean for honour and for gain,
But I'm told his ship got wrecked all on the coast of
Spain."
When Betsy heard this dreadful news she fell into despair,
In
a-wringing of her hands and a-tearing of her hair.
"Since Johnny has gone and left me no man on earth I'll take,
Down in some lonesome valley I'll wander for his
sake."
Young Johnny hearing her say so he could no longer stand,
He fell into
her arms crying, "Betsy, I'm the man,
I am that faithful young man and whom you thought was slain,
And since we met on Claudy banks we'll never part again."
Also noted in other parts of southern England, as
well as in Scotland and Ireland. Although the name Claudy points to an Irish origin, the song seems to have had its
widest currency in England. The themes of the disguised sailor, and that
of the 'broken token', were the most popular of all the happy-ending songs of
true love. |