She’s proud and she’s beautiful

AKAThe Plough Boy
Sarah
Sarie
First Published1906

Writer/composerGeorge Bastow / Fred LeighRoudRN16652

Music Hall PerformersGeorge Bastow
Folk performancesSource Singers
Carver, Charlie 1960 England : Suffolk
Philips, Cyril 1960 England : Sussex
Porter, Sarah 1961 England : Sussex
Webb, Percy 1975-1976 England : Suffolk
Ling, Ruby 1975-1980 England : Suffolk
Now I love my Sarah she works at our farm
And so long as she's true to me I'll do her no harm
When she told I she would marry I, I felt twice as big
Cos I'd rather have Sarah than Master's prize pig

She's proud and she's be-a-utiful, she's fat and as fair
As the buttercups and daisies what grows in the air
Fi dolderol day, Fi dolderol day
Fi dolderol, fi dolderol, fi dolderol day

This morning my Sarah was milking the cow
When the stool over ballyanced and she fell off somehow
'Have you hurt yourself very much', I started to yell
Says she, 'Oi've hurt my arm' but that bain't where she fell

When we goes out court-i-ing, Oi loikes it 'cos whoi
All the toime she says nothing much, and noither do Oi
If Oi gives her a little squeeze, then she squeezes me
And the more Sarah squeezes Oi, the more Oi loves she.

When Mother she haerd how my Sarah Oi'd won
She said, 'That gal bayn't good enough for my handsome son'
My fayther he looked at me so gentle and kind
And wanted to know if my Sarah was blind

When us two get marry-ed there's sure to be fun
For they tells I that the parson he makes two into one
But I think we shall puzzle him 't'wixt you and me
There's enough fat on Sarah to make two or three

Now the first loving couple or so I believe
Were a young man named Adam and a damsel called Eve
People say it was wrong of him that apple to chew
But if Eve were like sarah what else could he do?

Poor Sarah she fell in the river one day
And she might have drown-ded if Oi'd not passed that way
When Oi'd saved her, she looked as if Oi'd done some big croime
And she said, 'Just you mind where you grab me next time'

An early 20th century Music Hall number, still widely sung in the pubs of south-east of England a hundred years later. Cyril Phillips sings it on the  Musical Traditions Just Another Saturday Night, which celebrates the songs sung in Sussex pubs in the 1950s and 60s, as collected by Brian Matthews. Also in the repertoire of other Sussex/Suffolk pub singers like Charlie Carver, Sarah Porter, Percy Webb and Ruby Ling.

It was sung in the Halls by George Bastow – one of a number of songs in which he lampooned country folk – his “Farmer Giles” songs.

You can hear several versions of it on the excellent Sussex Traditions site

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