Maggie May

[ Roud 5383 ; Ballad Index Shoe142 ; Mudcat 54326 ; G.W. Moore]

Danny Stradling learned Maggie May from Padstow singer Charlie Bate; she sang it on Oak’s gig at Benfleet Folk Club, The Hoy and Helmet, Benfleet, Essex, in 1972. This recording made by Keith Summers was included in 2003 on Oak’s Musical Traditions anthology Country Songs and Music.

Brenda Wootton and Robert Bartlett sang Maggie May in 1975 on their Sentinel album Starry-Gazey Pie. They noted:

No one seems sure of this song’s origin but it was certainly ‘collected’ at St. Mabyn in 1870. However, Maggie May is well known to this day and regarded by those who sing it as a ‘local’ song. For us, it’s simply one of Charlie Bates’ sweetest songs and we’d like to dedicate this particular version to him.

Tommy Morrissey from Padstow sang Maggie May at the Ship in Wadebridge, Cornwall in a recording that was included in 1992 on his and Charlie Pitman’s Veteran Tapes cassette of Cornish songs, Pass Around the Grog. This track was also included in 2004 on the Veteran CD anthology of folk songs sung in the West Country, Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and All. John Howson noted:

Little Maggie May was written in America in 1869 by G.W. Moore with music by Charles W. Blamphin. It was published in Songs of the Sunny South (1929) which included, folk songs, spirituals, minstrel and Stephen Foster songs. In more recent years this song has became popular in Padstow through the singing of Charlie Bate, to who Tommy credited the song.

Dave Lowry sang Maggie May on his 2024 WildGoose album Songs of a Devon Man. Bill Crawford noted:

Written by C.W. Blamphin and published in the 1860s in Pennsylvania. In Cornwall it was popularised by Charlie Bate and has become part of the standard repertoire of Cornish singers. It appears in Dunstan’s Cornish Dialect and Folk Songs.

Lyrics

Oak sing Maggie May

The spring ’tis here, the flowers in bloom,
The birds ring out their lay.
Down by a little murmuring stream
I first met Maggie May.

Chorus (after each verse):
My little winchy Maggie,
Singing all the day;
Oh, how I loved her none can tell,
My little Maggie May.

Her hair is gold, her eyes are blue,
And shining like the day.
Her heart is ever pure and true,
My little Maggie May.

The years have flown, my eyes grow dim,
My hair is turning grey,
But never will I cease to love
My long lost Maggie May.

Tommy Morrissey sings Maggie May

Spring has come, the flowers in bloom,
And the birds sung out their lay.
And by a little murmuring stream
I first met Maggie May.

Chorus (after each verse):
My little ’witchy Maggy,
Singing all the day;
Oh! How I love her none can tell,
My little Maggie May.

Her hair was gold, her eyes were blue
And shining like the day.
Her heart was ever pure and true,
My little Maggie May.

Although her voice is ever still,
’Tis like an angel’s lay.
I hear it still where’re I go,
The voice of Maggie May.

The years have flown, my eyes are dim,
My hair is scant and grey.
But never will I cease to love
My long lost Maggy May.