Misc Traditional - Maid In The Calico Dress

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tabbed by jack dingler
weaseldog2001@yahoo . com

maid in the calico dress
henry nutter

E A C#m A E A

[ E ] in flowery [ A ] july , neath [ C#m ] comrose proud [ A ] heights
as the [ E ] plovers come [ A ] down from moor [ E ] end
and southward the [ A ] cuckoo is [ C#m ] taking his [ A ] flight
and the [ E ] corncrakes are [ A ] deep in the [ E ] grass
the [ A ] swallow and [ C#m ] swift were [ A ] aloft in the [ C#m ] air
and the [ A ] starling was feeding her [ G#m ] young
the [ A ] milkmaid was [ C#m ] tending her [ A ] cattle with [ G#m ] care
and the [ A ] haymakers che – [ G#m ] eri – [ A ] ly [ E ] sung

chorus :
oh [ A ] ladies of [ C#m ] dublin in [ A ] satin or [ E ] silk
are [ A ] pretty i [ C#m ] clearly [ G#m ] confess
oh but [ E ] give me the [ A ] maid
who is [ C#m ] neatly ar – [ A ] rayed
in A [ E ] beautiful [ A ] calico [ E ] dress

you may talk of the italia ladies in vain
or the maidens of france or peru
you may worship the languishing beauties of spain
or the blushing carpathians too
but the one that i love , has the eyes like the sloe
and her cheeks are like roses in june
how graceful she slips , as she trips like the doe
and her ruby red lips are in tune

chorus

if fortune or friendship compels me to roam
or a thirst for some changes constrain
id still call the banks of old muenster me home
and id sing of its praises again
sweet gardens of roses or our cultured bowers
would delight a poor soul to possess
but give me old comrose , bedecked with wild flowers
and the maid in the calico dress

“the maid in the calico dress
this delightful song has evolved through a circuitous route that spans many years . it
a poem first , written by henry nutter , who came from lancashire , in the nineteenth
it endured the years and cultural changes , until it was recently set to music by gerry
from oldham , lanes , from whose singing i learned it . it’s a lovely landscape of the
between a man and his woman , which i have set on the graceful slopes of the comeragh
in the county waterford . ” – danny doyle