I am a freeborn man of the traveling people
Got no fixed abode, with nomads I am numbered
Country lanes and byways were always my ways
Never fancied being lumbered

O we knew the woods, all the resting places
And the small birds sang when wintertime was over
Then we'd pack our load and be on the road
They were good old times for the rover

There was open ground where a man could linger
Stay a week or two for time was not your master
Then away you'd jog with your horse and dog
Nice and easy, no need to go faster

Now and then you'd meet up with other travelers
Hear the news or else swap family information
At the country fairs, we'd be meeting there
All the people of the traveling nation

All you freeborn men of the traveling people
Every tinker, rolling stone, or gypsy rover
Winds of change are blowing, old ways are going
Your traveling days will soon be over

Copyright Stormking Music, Inc.

Two verses that MacColl sings which are not in most published versions.

Oh I've ken't life hard and I've ken't it easy
And I've cursed the life when winter days was dawnin'
But I've danced and sang through the whole nacht lang #1
Seen the summer sun rise in the mornin'

There is also another stanza that I don't recall hearing elsewhere. Here's how I hear it - it may need some correction. 'Well a'' could be an adjective 'wella' - is there such a word? I took 'happed' to be past tense of 'hap', meaning to cover or wrap.

I've made well a' creels and the heather besoms #2
Lifted tatties, pu'd the berries and ga'ed hawkin'
And I've lain there spent, happed up in the tent
And I've listened to the old folks talkin'

#1 MacColl sings "the hale nicht lang" - which I think are the same words, but a different pronunciation.

#2 It's "willow creels", pronounced "willa"

"happed" is right - wrapped, covered or cloaked. From Old English, and still in use in late 1800s.

Phil

Notes from the Mudcat.org forum