Bedlam Hospital
It’s thanks to the British composer and folk music collector Gustav Holst that I encountered this song as a teenager through his choral setting. I’ve always been haunted by its melody and its story - good reasons to learn a song.
Abroad as I was walking
One evening in the spring
I heard a maid in Bedlam
So sweetly for to sing
Her chain she rattled with her hands
And thus replied she
Chorus: I love my love
Because I know
My love loves me
Oh my cruel parents
Are being too unkind
They drove and punish me
And trouble my mind
For though I’m ruined for his love
Contented will I be
Chorus
