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When I Was A Fair Maid

from Gracious Wings by Jackie Oates

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Gracious Wings is the 8th solo album from English traditional singer, Jackie Oates.

    This CD comes in a digipack format, with CD, sleeve and booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Gracious Wings via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

I learnt this from the singing of Margaret Jeffrey of Blairgowrie, as recorded by Hamish Henderson on a 1956 ‘Voice Of The People’ album.

lyrics

1. When I Was A Fair Maid – Trad/Arr. Oates/Wilks

When I was a fair maid about aged sixteen
I want for to go and serve my country and my queen
I listed in the army, a drummer boy to be,
And they learned me to play upon the rumma dumma dee

CHORUS

With my big hat and feather, if you had only seen
You’d sworn from your very heart a young man I had been
My waist being small and slender, my fingers thin and small
I could play upon the rumma dee the best among them all

When I was in the guardroom, as oft times I had been
I never was afraid for to lie down with any man
When taking off my trousers it often made me smile
For to think I was a soldier and a maiden all the while

They sent me up to London, I was scarcely three days there
When a young maid fell in love with me, because I was so fair
I told her I was a maiden, “a maiden?” she replied
And she went and told my officer, my secret she destroyed

The officer he sent for me to ask if it was true
I told him that it was, what else could I do?
I told him that it was, he smiled and shook his head
It’s a pity for to lose you such a drummer boy you made

So here is a pension, you have it from the King
And here is another one, you have it from the Queen
And if ever you should marry, or ever have a son
You can send him to the army for to rattle up the drum

credits

from Gracious Wings, track released September 2, 2022
Jon Wilks – guitar
John Parker – double bass
Richard Evans - mandolin

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about

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Jackie Oates Wallingford, UK

Jackie Oates is a mainstay of English traditional music and one of the country’s best loved folk performers. Her deeply personal 2018 album The Joy Of Living was described as “utterly gorgeous” by The Guardian. Through collaboration and commission, Jackie brings elements of the English tradition to new people and places; bringing a much needed calm and joy to those who hear it. ... more

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