Folk Songs

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Love is a Great Force

A Lovespoon from the Museum's Collections.

A Lovespoon from the Museum's Collections.

Love is a great force when it does not run smoothly,
It's a thing that has driven many away from their homes;
What drove me away was my father's words,
And my mother, who was kind, drove me from my land.
Toh mee wec ram dee doodl al ee dal fall dee–dl alee doh.

I'd rather see you buried and laid under the earth
Than see you be married, I'd bury you, truly.
I'll put a sod on your face and a stone above you
Before [seeing] you march your body towards that fair maid.
Toh mee wec ram dee doodl al ee dal fall dee–dl alee doh.

When I heard that, I took a man–of–war,
I was on it for seven years without seeing my mother or father;
Seven years had passed before I returned to Wales,
Having thought in my heart that I should never be so foolish.
Toh mee wec ram dee doodl al ee dal fall dee–dl alee doh.

I walked towards my father's house, where I'd been many a time,
And everyone was happy to see me back again;
Night soon fell, and my mind it was made up,
I turned my steps quite boldly towards the dear girl's house.
Toh mee wec ram dee doodl al ee dal fall dee–dl alee doh.

Listen

Love is a Great Force

SFNHM Tape 171. Collected 30.4.59 from Miss M. M. Williams (teacher, b. 1894), Brynsiencyn, Anglesey.

Notes

The song tells of a young man who spends seven years aboard a man–of–war because of parental opposition to his love affair. On the very evening of his return to his parents he cannot resist the urge to visit his sweetheart again. According to the singer, a fifth stanza (which she had never actually heard) revealed that there was offspring as well as sweetheart to greet the exile. Cf. the tune with that published alongside a different text in JWFSS, ii; 274, under the title 'Dydd Llun y Bore'/'Cerdd y Gog Lwydlas'('Monday Morning'/'The Song of the Grey Cuckoo').

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Hector Williams (ballad singer)