Folk Songs
If My Love Comes Here Tonight
Printed Ballad Sheets from the Museum's Collections.
If my love comes here tonight to tap the grey window pane,
Answer him politely, politely, politely
Answer him politely – don't answer him harshly
That the girl is not at home, the girl is not at home, the girl is not at home,
That the girl is not at home, nor wishes to be in the house;
A young man from another parish, from another parish, from another parish
A young man from another parish has taken her away.
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If My Love Comes Here Tonight
SFNHM Tape 829. Collected 11.9.64 from at Mrs Ellen Ellis (housewife, b. 1907) abd her daughter Rhian (b. 1945), Gwynfryn, Mynytho, near Pwllheli.Caernarvonshire.
Notes
A love stanza which, within the scope of a few lines, touchingly conveys an Eternal Triangle situation. The text as recorded might well be considered a self–contained unit, but (without phrase repeats) this has often been published on 'ballad' leaflets as the first of five stanzas. JWFSS (i. 134–5, 208–9, and ii, 282–3) shows that 'Os Daw 'Nghariad I Yma Heno' has been sung to several different tunes: nowadays Welsh stage performers invariably use what seems to be a variant of the hymn–tune 'Hen Ddarbi' ('Old Darby') or 'Cyfamod'. As far as is known, the text has not previously been published alongside the tune given in the present volume. (The latter tune, however, does appear in JWFSS, iii, 200, coupled with the text of 'Y Ferch o Geredigion'('The Girl from Ceredigion')
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