Different versions of the same tune.
Diverse versioni della stessa melodia.
ONCE I HAD A SWEETHEART
Traditional english.
excerpts from the tracks:
- Pentangle: Once I had a sweetheart (album Basket of light, 1969)
- Marianne Faithfull: Once I had a sweetheart (album Come my way, 1965)
- Joan Baez: Once I had a sweetheart (album Joan Baez in concert part II, 1963)
- Angelo Branduardi & ensemble Chominciamento di Gioia: Once I had a sweetheart (album Futuro antico, 1996)
- Pentangle (reprise)
- Angelo Branduardi (reprise)
- Angelo Branduardi: Mustaphas tale (album Fables and fantasies, 1978)
Lyrics:
Once I had a sweetheart and now I have none
Once I had a sweetheart and now I have none
He’s gone and left me He’s gone and left me
Gone and left me in sorrow to mourn
Last night in sweet slumber I dreamed I did see
Last night in sweet slumber I dreamed I did see
My own darling jewel sat smiling by me
My own darling jewel sat smiling by me
But when I awakened I found it not so
But when I awakened I found it not so
My eyes like some fountain with tears overflowed
Eyes like some fountain with tears overflowed
I’ll venture through England, through France and through Spain
I’ll venture through England, through France and through Spain
My life I’ll venture on watery main
My life I’ll venture on watery main
I’ll set sail of silver and steer toward the sun
I’ll set sail of silver and steer toward the sun
And my false love will weep, my false love will weep
False love will weep for me after I’m gone
ancient alternate lyrics:
Once I had a sweetheart,
A sweetheart brave and true.
His hair was dark and curly,
His loving eyes were blue.
He often came to see me
When the sun was sinking low.
He often said he loved me,
And this he did prove so.
He was like all other boys;
He had his friends and chums,
And off together they would go
For pleasure and for fun.
They overpersuaded my sweetheart,
I never knew what for.
They overpersuaded my sweetheart,
To the Spanish-American War.
And when he came to say goodbye,
My heart did overflow.
He says, “Goodbye, my darling.
To Cuba I must go.”
He took off his finger ring,
And he placed it on my hand.
“When this you see, remember me,
When I’m in some far-off land.”
Promised that he would write to me;
This promise he kept true.
The very last lines he ever sent,
“I’ll soon be at home, love, with you.”
It was on Cuba’s bloody ground,
He met his fatal doom.
Some Spaniard fired that awful shot
That laid him in his tomb.
His comrade went all through the war,
And when he did come home,
He never brought my sweetheart back,
And now I’m left alone.
I’ll always wear his diamond ring,
And keep his letters, too.
I’ll always live a single life
For the one I know was true.
Duration : 0:5:13