Lyrics to
One Morning In May

This version of One Morning In May was released by James Taylor in 1972.

Our About James Taylor page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for One Morning In May from 1972 as well as all of the other lyrics from James Taylor that we have in our lyrics database.

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One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I spied a young couple, they were making their way.
One was a maiden so bright and so fair and the other was a soldier and a brave volunteer.

Good morning, good morning, good morning said he,
and where are you going my pretty lady?
I’m going out a-walking on the banks of the sea
just to see the water’s glide and hear the nightingale sing.

Now they had not been standing but a minute or two
when out of his knapsack a fiddle he drew
and the tune that he played made the valleys all ring,
oh hark, cried the maiden, hear the nightingale sing.

Oh maiden, fair maiden, ’tis time to give o’er.
Oh no, kind soldier, please play one tune more
for I’d rather hear your fiddle at the touch of one string
than to see the waters glide and hear the nightingale sing.

Oh soldier, kind soldier, will you marry me? Oh no, pretty maiden, that never shall be.
I’ve a wife down in London and children twice three,
two wives and the army’s too many for me.

Well, I’ll go back to London and I’ll stay there for a year,
it’s often that I’ll think of you, my little dear.
And if ever I return it will be in the spring
just to see the waters glide and hear the nightingale sing.
To see the waters glide and hear the nightingale sing.

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James Taylor has released many songs over the years besides One Morning In May. James Taylor released songs from 1968 to 2002 spanning across albums like James Taylor, Sweet Baby James, Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon, One Man Dog, Walking Man, Gorilla, In The Pocket, JT, Flag, Dad Loves His Work, That's Why I'm Here, Never Die Young, New Moon Shine, Hourglass, and October Road. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by James Taylor.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1972 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and One Morning In May by James Taylor

The lyrics to One Morning In May are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that James Taylor used when the song was created in 1972. The lyrics to One Morning In May have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only James Taylor and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to One Morning In May by James Taylor. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to One Morning In May" means the words set to the music of One Morning In May, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by James Taylor. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to One Morning In May and the lyrics to One Morning In May are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of James Taylor who came here looking just for the lyrics to One Morning In May, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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