Nymphs and Shephers, come away!

This morning, on CBC Radio 2, Henry Purcell's "Nymphs and Shepherds" was one of the feature songs. I found myself singing along to those words and tune I learned while listening, in elementary school, to the BBC Schools broadcast. This must have been sometime in the years 1948 to 1954 when I attended the village schools in Cheddleton, Staffs.

"Nymphs and shepherds, come away, come way, for this is Flora's holiday. In this grove we'll sport and play." Those are the words I remember, and those, with repetition are what I sang along to. There is another English folk song I have not heard for decades: "Where the bee sucks there suck I."

Through the BBC I had an eclectic musical education. One American folk song we learned in that era was, "Down in Demerrara." "And here we sits like birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness, Down in Demerra."