Lady Mary
RA, Western, 2008
He came from his palace grand
Came to my cottage door
His words were few but his looks
Lingered for ever more
And the look in his sad dark eyes
More tender than words could be
I was nothing to him
Though he was the world to me.
There in her garden she stands
All dressed in fine satin and lace
Lady Mary so cold and so strange
Finds in his heart no place
Yet he knew I would be his bride
With a kiss as a lifetime theme
I was nothing to him
Though he was the world to me.
Now in his palace grand
On a flower strewn bed he lies
His beautiful lids are closed
O'er his sad dark beautiful eyes
And among the mourners who mourn
Why should I a mourner be
I was nothing to him
But he was the world to me.
From Probably Joan Baez.
I had a guitar accompaniment that was slightly taxing and that I was rather proud of. Quite liberating to drop it, I found.
Fairly straightforward - love across class barriers, love from afar stuff. The very last two lines; sometimes with But, sometimes with Though. It really makes a difference. He is dead, why should she mourn? And she explains why she isn't (or kids herself she isn't?) - I was nothing to him, even though he was the world to me.
My preferred version: she explains why she is - I know I was nothing to him, but.
Presumably this is a collection / collation from various sources. The song actually makes sense if you change the sex of the singer and the person who comes to the cottag door.