Pretty Saro

Down in some lone valley in some lonesome place
I wish no better pastime than to be with my sweet
But she said she won’t have me so that I understand
She wants some freeholder where I have no land

I cannot maintain her on silver and gold
Nor buy her all the fine things that a big house can hold
So farewell pretty Saro I bid you adieu
I’m going to wander this whole world through

If I were a merchant and write some fine hand
I’d write my love a letter so she might understand
I’d send it by river where the wild waters flow
And I’d think of pretty Saro wherever I go

If I were a dove and had wings and could fly
This night to my love’s window, I would fly nigh
In her lily white arms all the night I would lay
And watch those little windows till the dawning of day

Traditional, adapted and arranged by Derroll Adams
(as it appears on the album 65th Birthday Concert)

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