6. Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies

Trad., adapted & arranged by Robin Greenstein


Guitar, Banjo, Vocals - Robin
Bass - Barry Weisenfeld
Fiddle- Dan Collins
Recorder - Lisa McDivitt


The definitive “warning” song; this is simply one of the greatest folksongs ever written from a woman’s point of view, and it exitst in many version. The imagery and the pentatonic melody fuse together to create a timeless eternal plaint.


Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies

Come all you fair and tender ladies

Take warning how you court young men
They're like the stars of a summer's morning
First they appear and then they're gone

They'll tell to you some lovin' story
They'll swear to you that their love is true
Straightway they'll go and they'll court another
And thats the love they have for you

If I had known before I courted
I never would have courted none
I'd lock my heart in a box of golden
And fasten it up with a silver pin

Do you recall our days of courting
When your head lay on my breast
You'd make me believe by the falling of your arms
That the sun rose in the west

I wish I was a little sparrow
And I had wings and I could fly
I'd fly away to my false true lover
And when he'd speak, I would deny

But I am not a little sparrow
Neither have I wings to fly
So here I'll sit in grief and sorrow
And watch my troubles pass me by

Come all you fair and tender ladies

Take warning how you court young men
They're like the stars of a summer's morning
First they appear and then they're gone