"A Blacksmith Courted Me"

Eddi Reader (born Sadenia Reader, in 1959 in Glasgow) is a singer and actress who hit number one in Britain as part of Fairground Attraction with their single Perfect in 1988. She performs in the recently released film Me And Orson Welles. I first came across her singing what has since become one of my favorite ballads, "Blacksmith," also known as "A Blacksmith Courted Me." This traditional English folk song is perhaps hundreds of years old. It was first published by the composer and folk music chronicler Ralph Vaughan Williams (Perhaps best known for his arrangment of another popular English folk classic, Greensleves) in 1909, who got it from a Mrs. Powell.



Reader performs "Blacksmith" on her solo album Mirmama. Here it is below, done justice with her powerful voice and the haunting arrangement. Beneath it are the lyrics from Wikipedia, and then a rendition of Williams' Greensleeves for good measure.



A blacksmith courted me
Nine months and better
He fairly won my heart
Wrote me a letter.
With his hammer in his hand
He looked so clever
And if I was with my love
I would live forever.

But where is my love gone
With his cheeks like roses
And his good black Billycock on
Decked around with primroses.
I fear the shining sun
May burn and scorch his beauty
And if I was with my love
I would do my duty.

Strange news is come to town
Strange news is carried
Strange news flies up and down
That my love is married.
I wish them both much joy
Though they can't hear me
And may God reward him well
For the slighting of me.

Don't you remember when
You lay beside me
And you said you'd marry me
And not deny me.
If I said I'd marry you
It was only for to try you
So bring your witness love
And I'll not deny you.

No, witness have I none
Save God Almighty
And may he reward you well
For the slighting of me.
Her lips grew pale and wan
It made a poor heart tremble
To think she loved a one
And he proved deceitful.

A blacksmith courted me
Nine months and better
He fairly won my heart
Wrote me a letter.
With his hammer in his hand
He looked so clever
And if I was with my love I would live forever