“The Bold Deserter”

Description

The singer loves a girl. "She first advised me for to list and afterwards desert" He is hiding, thinking of those he left behind, terrorized even by "the bird that flutters on each tree." He will return. If they "pardon me, I would desert no more"

Broadsides

• Bodleian, Harding B 28(64), "Bold Deserter" ("My parents rear'd me tenderly, I being their only son)," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth c.14(126), Harding B 26(66), 2806 c.15(183), Harding B 19(42), "[The] Bold Deserter"; Firth c.14(128), "The Bold Deserter" or "Why Did I Desert?"

References

1. OLochlainn 68, "The Bold Deserter" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. DT, BOLDDSRT*
3. Roud #1655
4. BI, OLoc068