No. 38 Marion or I’ll Ramble and I’ll Rove, Soc 228
Pentatonic, mode 2 (I — 3 IV V — 7)
I have a loving old father at home,
I’ve cost him many a tear;
And to make lament to him,
I’ll travel ten thousand year.
I’ll ramble and I’ll rove and I’ll call upon my God.
They may all say what they will,
Resolv’d as I am so long as I live,
For to be a rover still.
Further stanzas are made merely by the substitution of “mother” etc. for “father”. The song, tune and words, was probably parodied from ‘Seven Long Years’. See Sharp, ii., 79. From the latter song I quote the second stanza.
I have a good old father at home,
And I’ve cost him many a pound,
And now to make amends for this,
I’ll travel the whole world round.
Chorus
I’ll romp and I’ll rave, and I’ll call for my bode,
They may all say what they will;
Resolved as I am, just as long as I can,
For to drink good liquor still.
Compare also ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor’, Sharp, i., 124, tune ‘N’. ‘Marion’ belongs to the ‘Babe of Bethlehem’ group of tunes. See the song by that title in this collection. ‘Kingsfold’, No. 270 in the Christian Science Hymnal is the same. In the English Methodist Hymn Book, ‘Kingsfold’ is given as a traditional melody of England. See also Petrie, Nos. 193 and 863.