This traditional English folk song has been arranged for ATBarB a cappella.
First performed in 2017 by Monika Harris, Lachlan McDonald, Timothy Mallis, and Hanan Tang at Auburn Uniting Church, Melbourne, Australia.
Early one morning
Just as the sun was rising,
I heard a maiden sing
In the valley below.
Oh, don’t deceive me,
Oh, never leave me,
How could you use
A poor maiden so?
Remember the vows
That you made to me truly,
Remember how tenderly
You nestled close to me.
Gay is the garland
And fresh are the roses
I’ve picked from the garden
To bind on thy brow.
Here I now wander
Alone as I wonder
Why did you leave me
To sigh and complain?
I ask of the roses:
Why should I be forsaken?
Why, must I here
In sorrow remain?
Through yonder grove by the spring that is running,
There you and I have so merrily played.
Kissing and courting and gently sporting,
Oh, my innocent heart You’ve betrayed.
Thus sang the maiden,
Her sorrows bewailing,
Thus sang the maiden
In the valley below.
