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Go and Leave Me / Fond Affection

[ Roud 459 / Song Subject MAS135 ; G/D 6:1145 ; Ballad Index R755 ; DT GOLEAVME ; Mudcat 71063 , 128109 ; trad.]

Bob and Jacqueline Patten: A Somerset Scrapbook John Ord: Bothy Songs and Ballads

Tom Darby and Jimmie Tarlton recorded the Columbus Stockade Blues on 10 November 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia. This recording was included in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of British songs in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Steve Roud noted:

It is not clear whether Darby or Tarlton put this song together, but it is clearly based on another widespread traditional song which is variously called Go and Leave Me If You Wish It (Roud 459), Dear Companion, or Food Affection, but with added jail motif.

Go and Leave Me was printed on British broadsides at least from the mid-19th century onwards.

Frank Jenkin’s Pilot Mountaineers sang The Railroad Flagman’s Sweetheart in a recording made on 12 September 1929 in Richmond, Indiana. It was included in 2018 on the Musical Tradtions anthology of Anglo-American songs and tunes From Texas to Maine, A Distant Land to Roam. Rod Stradling noted:

This is a popular song which appeared on several mid-19th century British broadsides. Variously titled as Go and Leave Me If You Wish It, Fond Affection and Dear Companion it has been collected from several English singers. Gavin Greig found that Go and Leave Me was popular in Aberdeenshire at the turn of the century and Superintendent Ord of the Glasgow City Police included a set in his noted collection of Bothy Songs and Ballads.

According to the distinguished Missouri folklorist H.M. Belden, this song was “a favourite among songs of disappointed love” and there are many collected sets from North America. Bascom Lamar Lunsford (track 16) recorded a version for the Library of Congress.

Caroline Hughes sang a fragment of Go and Leave Me to Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker in 1963 or 1966. This recording was included in 2014 on her Musical Traditions anthology Sheep-Crook and Black Dog. Rod Stradling noted:

Short and sweet, and sung to the same tune Percy Webb used in Suffolk. Where the ‘three crossroads’ come from, I have no idea.

Fred Jordan sang Go and Leave Me at his home on Wenlock Edge, Shropshire in 1964 to Mike Yates. This recording was included in 2015 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs and recitations from the Mike Yates collection, I Wish There Was No Prisons. Rod Stradling noted:

There are a number of closely related songs, in this case the songs Go and Leave Me, Fond Affection and Dear Companion, which comprise a selection of what we call ‘floating’ verses and they are quite well-known throughout England and Scotland. Gavin Greig found that Go and Leave Me was popular in Aberdeenshire at the turn of the century and Superintendent Ord of the Glasgow City Police included a set in his noted collection of Bothy Songs and Ballads. According to the distinguished Missouri folklorist H.M. Belden, this song was “a favourite among songs of disappointed love” and there are many collected sets from North America.

Other recordings: Caroline Hughes (Dorset) - MTCD365-6. Percy Webb (Suffolk) MTCD 356-7. Darby &Tarlton (USA) - Nehi NEH3X1 (as Columbus Stockade Blues). Listeners should also listen to Caroline Hughes’s recording of the song Died for Love (Roud 60), which is also included on MTCD365-6, because this song also shares several verses with Fred Jordan’s song.

Daisy Chapman sang Go and Leave Me to Peter Hall at home in George Street, Aberdeen, in 1966 (PH:1966.A38.9). This recording was included in 2000 on her Musical Traditions anthology Ythanside. Rod Stradling noted:

One must presume that this is an American song, since 51 of Roud’s 76 instances are from there. Henry Burstow, Charlie Wills and Percy Webb knew it in England, as does Maggie McGee from Inis Eoghain—and a good many other Irish singers too, who are not mentioned in the Index. In Scotland, only Dodie Chalmers and Davie Stewart (both of Aberdeen) have been recorded singing it. Mike Yates has unissued recordings of it from both Fred Jordan and Walter Pardon.

Percy Webb sang Go and Leave Me in a mono recording made at The King’s Head, Upper St. Islington in 1968. This was published in 1974 on the Topic album Flash Company: Traditional Singers From Suffolk and Essex and in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology King’s Head Folk Club of traditional performers at this London Folk Club 1968-1970. Rod Stradling noted:

Another of Percy’s favourites, this one is surprisingly popular, with 109 Roud entries, almost all of which are from the USA. Among the nine English instances we find Charlie Wills and Amy Ford, while Joe Holmes knew it in Ireland, as did Daisy Chapman and Davie Stewart in Scotland. Among the 39 sound recordings, only Daisy, the Carter Family, and Kelly Harrell seem to have a CD still available.

Charlie Wills of Bridport, Dorset, sang Go and Leave Me to Bill Leader in January 1971. This recording was released in the following year on his epnymous Leader album Charlie Wills. Bill Leader noted:

In the early years of this century Gavin Greig published this song with a note on its widespread popularity. He did not reckon it as being old then, but the three widely differing versions he had collected led him to believe that it had already passed into the tradition and was becoming firmly established.

Kevin Dempsey and Chris Leslie sang Once I Loved in 1989 on their Making Waves album Always With You.

Peta Webb (no relation to Percy Webb) sang Go and Leave Me in a 1992 recording especially made for the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices. The album’s producer Paul Adams noted:

A love lament heard widely in Britain and Ireland. The chorus comes from Suffolk singer Percy Webb and the verses from many singers, mainly travellers. Peta says that she likes to bring out the woman’s scorn for the man who jilts her as well as her pain. Peta believes firmly in the importance of learning directly from traditional sources and wherever possible has gone to meet the singers from whom she learnt. She has been on many collecting trips adding considerable knowledge as well as enthusiasm for traditional music.

Arcady sang Once I Loved on their 1995 album Many Happy Returns.

Finest Kind sang Fond Affection on their 1999 album Heart’s Delight. They noted:

This traditional song has been sung under various titles across the southern U.S. Our version is based on one Shelley [Posen] learned 20 years ago from Norma Waterson, Go and Leave Me If You Wish To. We have since adopted the engaging title of a Missouri variant.

Norma Waterson sang Go and Leave Me in 2000 on her third solo album Bright Shiny Morning and on the Topic sampler A Woman’s Voice. Maria Gilhooley, Nadine Elliott and Eliza Carthy sang chorus vocals and Eliza Carthy accompanied on violin, too. Norma also sang it live at the Union Chapel in November 2010 on the DVD The Gift Band Live on Tour. She noted on her original album:

These words are from Sarah and Rita Keane but I started singing it after talking a lot with Walter Pardon. His mum used to sing it and I think that it’s a Victorian Parlour Ballad.

Margaret Bennett sang Go and Leave Me in 2001 on her Foot Stompin’ CD In the Sunny Long Ago…. She noted:

This song might sound as if it came from a Country and Western 78 disc, but it’s a 19th century ‘weepy’. Who knows where it started off, but it was popular in Scotland by the early 20th century. Mr Greig and the Rev. Duncan received requests for it via the newspaper. In 1906, after they’d collected a number of versions in the North-east, Greig remarked that “the song has been traditional [in Scotland] for a while” [G-D #1145]. My version comes from the singing of two friends, Cathal McConnell and Duncan Williamson.

John Spiers and Jon Boden recorded Go and Leave Me in 2003 for their duo CD Bellow and Jon Boden sang it as the 19 July 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. Their version is quite similar to Peta Webb’s but Jon sings it from a male point of view. The CD liner commented accordingly:

Another soppy one. This time a conflagration of Irish balladry and Victorian Music Hall learnt from the singing of Peta Webb.

Peta Webb commented in the AFSAD blog:

I first heard it in Suffolk in the early 1970s (where it was commonly song in pubs) sung by Percy Webb from around Framlingham (no relation, but a great character!). He sang it in straightforward style, verse and chorus the same tune.

I then heard Sarah & Rita Keane (Co. Galway) sing it, on their beautiful LP for Claddagh, Once I Loved (available on CD CC04CD). This is their title for it (in Ireland it is claimed as an Irish song). I gathered extra verses from them and use their more elaborate tune for the verse, retaining Percy Webb’s straight chorus tune as being easier to join in with. I changed the key line to “Go and leave me if you wish love” (instead of “to”) so she’s directly addressing the runaway lover. I also introduced a sense of scorn for him and pride in herself rather than keeping to the pathos of the Keanes’ delivery.

I heard a wonderful tune variant from traveller Anne O’ Neill, with a country & western twist, so I inserted that particular variant just once at the end of the “Here’s the ring love” verse. I didn’t consciously set out to do any of this, the song just evolved over five years or so as I sang it then heard other versions.

Mairéad Ní Fhlatharta sang Once I Loved on her 2010 album Ó Chaon Taobh.

Hannah Rarity sang Go and Leave Me on the TMSA Young Trad Tour 2019.

Tommy Armstrong wrote his lament Trimdon Grange to the tune of Go and Leave Me If You Wish It.

Lyrics

Frank Jenkin’s Pilot Mountaineers sing The Railroad Flagman’s Sweetheart

Once I loved a railroad flagman
And I thought that he loved me
‘Til some dark-eyed girl persuaded
Now he cares no more for me

Many a night with you I’ve rambled
Many a night when you was a-bed
I thought your heart was mine forever
Though I’ve found it only lent

Many a night, while you lay sleeping
Dreaming in your sweet repose
Me poor girl lay broken hearted
Listening to the wind that blows

When I hear my baby laughing
Makes me think of your sweet face
But when I hear my baby crying
Makes me think of my disgrace

Go and leave me if you wish to
Never let me cross your mind
In your heart you love another
And to her be true and kind

When you see the sun a-setting
Setting in the pale blue sky
Only for my baby’s darling
I would only gladly die

Caroline Hughes sings Go and Leave Me

O go and leave me, if you wish to
There’s many happy hour with you I spent;
But if you thinks that I’m not worth having,
For you’ll go your road and I’ll go mine.

There’s three crossroads now can I see them …

Fred Jordan sings Go and Leave Me

So it’s go and leave me if you wish it
And never let me cross your mind
For if you think I’m so unworthy
Go and leave me, never mind

For many a night with you I’ve rambled
Many an hour with you I’ve spent
I thought your heart was mine forever
Till love, I found, was only lent

And many a night when you are sleeping
Sleeping of your sweet repose
Whilst I, poor girl, lies broken hearted
A-listening to the wind that blows

So it’s farewell friends and kind relations
Farewell to you false young man
For it’s you that’s caused me pain and sorrow
Gone ne’er to return again

He loves another and I’ll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I
But her love will fade, her beauty will blast
And she’ll become like me at last

For when my apron strings were low
He’d follow me through frost and snow
But now it’s high, up to my chin
He’ll pass me by and say nothing

So it’s go and leave me if you wish it
And never let me cross your mind
For if you think I’m so unworthy
Go and leave me and never mind

Daisy Chapman sings Go and Leave Me

Go and leave me if you wish it,
Never let me cross your mind;
If you think me so unworthy,
Go and leave me, never mind.

Once I was loved with a fond affection,
All his thoughts they were of me;
Until a dark girl did persuade him,
And so he thought no more of me.

Many’s the night with him I’ve rambled,
Many’s the hour with him I’ve spent;
I thought his heart was mine for ever,
But love, I found, it was only lent.

But he is welcome to another,
One that has bright gold in store;
It’s him that’s caused my heart to flunder,
I’m left alone because I’m poor.

Farewell friends and kind relations,
Farewell to you, my false young man;
It’s your view that’s caused me pain and sorrow,
Never to return again.

Go and leave me if you wish it,
Never let me cross your mind;
If you think me so unworthy,
Go and leave me, never mind.

Percy Webb sings Go and Leave Me

O once I loved, with fond affection;
All his thoughts they were of me.
Until a dark girl did persuade him;
Now he thinks no more of me.

For now he’s happy with another,
One that has bright gold in store.
’Tis he that’s caused my heart to wander.
Now I’m left alone because I’m poor.

Chorus (after every other verse):
So go and leave me, if you wish it,
Never let let me cross your mind.
For if you think I’m so unworthy,
Go and leave me, never mind.

Many a night with him I wandered,
Many an hour with him I spent.
I thought that he was mine for ever,
But love I found, was only lent.

My heart has failèd and you know it;
The heart that only beats for thee.
However can I tell another
The tales of love I told to thee?

Many a night, as he lay sleeping.
Taking of his sweet repose,
While I, poor girl, lies broken hearted,
Listening to the wind that blows.

Fare thee well friends and kind relations;
Farewell to you, you false young man.
’Tis you that’s caused me pain and sorrow;
Never to return back again.

Charlie Wills sings Go and Leave Me

However could I tell another
The tales of love I’ve told to you

Chorus:
Then go and leave me if you wishes
Don’t never let it cross your mind
For if you think I’m so unworthy
Go and leave me never mind

There’s many a night while I lay sleeping
Dreaming of your sweet repose
’Tis you that caused my heart to wander
So go and leave me never mind

I thought your heart was mine for ever
But now I find ’twas only lent

Then take this kiss and bear in mind
That one true love is hard to find
And if you find one good and true
Don’t change the old one for the new

Then give to me the girl I love
O give her give her back to me
For if I’d the only girl I love
It’s O how happy I should be

Peta Webb sings Go and Leave Me

Once I loved with fond affection,
All his thoughts they were of me
Until a dark girl did persuade him;
Now he thinks no more of me.

One hour he’s happy with another
One that has great gold in store,
While I poor girl am left broken-hearted:
I’m left alone because I’m poor.

Chorus (after every other verse):
So go and leave me if you wish, love,
Never let me cross your mind.
For if you think I’m so unworthy
Go and leave me, I don’t mind.

Many’s the day, love, with you I’ve rambled,
Many was the night that with you I’ve spent;
For I always thought you were mine forever
But now I know you were only lent.

Here’s the ring, love, which first you gave me
When our hearts they were entwined.
Give it to that dark-haired lady;
She’ll never know that it once was mine.

Many’s the night, love, as you lie sleeping,
Dreaming in your sweet repose,
While I young girl lie broken-hearted,
Listening to the wind that blows.

Fare thee well friends and kind relations,
Farewell to you, you false young man;
’Tis you that has caused me pain and suffering.
Never to return again.

Norma Waterson sings Go and Leave Me

Now once I loved with fond affection
One whose heart was dear to me,
Till there came such a dreary parting;
Now he no longer speaks to me.

Chorus (after each verse):
So go and leave me if you wish to,
Never let me cross your mind.
If you think I have been unworthy
Go and leave me, I don’t mind.

Many’s the night in peaceful slumber
You have laid in sweet repose
While I, a young girl, lay broken-hearted
Listening to the wind that blows.

Here is the ring that once you gave me
When our lips they were entwined,
Give it to that fair-haired lady,
She’ll never know that it once was mine.

Links and Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of Norma Waterson by Garry Gillard.

See also the related song Dear Companion (Roud 411).