The Dawning Of The Day

"And the larks, they sang melodious..."

History

The first verse (which is also the last) is well known from a song ‘Pleasant & Delightful’, often sung at folk sessions. Many years ago I had an idea for writing a new song based on it, just taking the first verse. Because that made it essentially a different song, I gave it a different title (although it is sometimes known and ‘Dawning Of The Day’). And a bit of context: when sung in folk sessions there’s always someone who sings ‘And the larks they played melodeons...’ (the melodeon being a button accordion frequently used in Morris bands).

Lyrics

It was pleasant and delightful On a bright summer's morn When the fields and the meadows They were covered with corn And the blackbirds and thrushes On every green spray And the larks they sang melodious At the dawning of the day ----------------------------------------- And the larks, they sang melodious... At the dawning of the day. And we'd burned through every morning And we sighed through each night And we'd sang of larks' melodeons And laughed till we cried And I begged let me go with her If she would not stay (she said) "It was love and now it's over, And there's nothing more to say." ----------------------------------------- It was love and now it's over... And there's nothing more to say. Oh the night it went on forever As we argued and cried As we laughed and held each other, As I tried and I tried But the night slipped away from me, I could not keep hold For she's leaving for another life On the other side of the world ----------------------------------------- For she's leaving for another life... On the other side of the world. Oh it rained like the sky was angry As I made my way home And it seemed I was being beaten By waves and by foam And I fell into thick rain clouds Of black and of grey And I felt like I was drowning As the rain it died away ----------------------------------------- And it felt like I was drowning... As the rain it died away. And then it was pleasant and delightful On a bright summer's morn When the fields and the meadows Were covered with corn And the blackbirds and thrushes On every green spray And the larks they sang melodious At the dawning of the day ----------------------------------------- And the larks, they sang melodious... At the dawning of the day.

Credits & Copyright

Traditional, adapted and recorded by James Bell in 2012/3. Released in November 2013. Remastered in December 2017. (P) House of Lyra.