My Flower, My Companion and Me – (From "Faded Flowers," words by J. H. Brown; music by James Power. Boston: G.P. Reed & Co., 1851) As sung by Norma Waterson, recorded by Norma Waterson, also sung by RED JUNE at the Cook Shack, and Stewart Hendrickson
Oh the flowers that I loved in the wildwood
They have sent off their beautiful blooms
And the many dear friends of my childhood
Have slumbered for years in their tombs
It's no wonder I'm broken-hearted
Stricken with sorrow to be
We have met we have loved we have parted
Oh my flower my companion and me
Oh the rose that I loved I remember
And the smile that I never more shall see
Since the cold bitter winds of December
Stole my flower my companion from me
It's no wonder I'm broken-hearted
Stricken with sorrow to be
We have met we have loved we have parted
Oh my flower my companion and me
Ah but think of that bright shiny morning
When our spirits from earth shall be free
And we meet those we've loved in that dawning
Oh my flower my companion and me
It's no wonder I'm broken-hearted
Stricken with sorrow to be
We have met we have loved we have parted
Oh my flower my companion and me
[arr. Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy, Ben Ivitsky]
Norma Waterson commented in her sleeve notes: "From the wonderful Helen Schneyer. Helen has a fund of the most wonderful songs and this she sang to us in her house in the woods in Vermont with humming birds on the porch. One of those memories which cling." Helen said that the real name of the song is "Lost Love." Helen learned it from Craig Johnson (of the Double Decker String Band), who learned it from an old recording of Asa Martin, who lived near Covington in northern Kentucky. Helen has recorded it on her CD, "Somber, Sacred and Silly." Words to the original "Faded Flowers, Melodies of the Harmoneons," in the Levy Collection. Also see "The Jack Morgan Songster" compiled by a Capt. in Gen. Lee's Army (Raleigh, N.C.: Branson & Farrar, 1864), Google Books.