The Broomfield Hill

Child #43
(Ewan MacColl)

      Am                      G
There was a knight and a lady bright
    Am
Set trysts among the broom,
                       C
The one to be there at twelve o' the clock
    G
The other one true at noon.

Chorus (after every verse):

     G                 Am       G
     Leeze me thee and thoo and a'
         Am
     And madam will ye do?
                           C
     And the seal o' me is abracee
          G               Am
     Fair maiden, I'm for you.


"I'll wager you, my bonnie lass,
Five hundred pounds and ten
That ye'll not gae to the top o' the hill
And come back a maid again."

"I'll take your wager, bonnie lad,
Five hundred pounds and ten,
That I'll gae to the top o' the hill
And come back a maid again."

As she walked up that high, high hill
It was the hour of noon,
And there she saw her own true love
A sleepin' in the broom.

Nine times she walked around his head,
Nine times around his feet,
Nine times she kissed his bonnie red mouth
And oh, but it was sweet.

And when she did all that she could
She softly walked away
And hid herself in the merry green wood
To hear what her love did say.

When he awoke from his deep sleep
And wakened from his dreams,
Said he, "My friend, where's my true love,
Has she been here and gone?"

"If you slept more in the night, master,
You'd waken more in the day.
If you'd awakened from your sleep
She'd not hae got away."

"If you'd have waked me from my sleep
Of her I'd ta'en my will,
And though we died the very next day
I would have had my fill."

So the wager's laid and the wager's paid
Five hundred pounds and ten,
'Twas all for her body's safety
And the wager she did win.


On "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads 3" album