As I roved out one evening all in the month of May
Down by a flowery garden where Flora she did stray,
I overheard a damsel in sorrow to complain
All for her absent lover who plows the raging main.

I went up to this maiden and took her by surprise,
I own she did not know me, I being in disguise,
Said I “My charming creature, my joy and heart’s delight
Pray tell how far you travel this dark and stormy night.”

“The way kind sir to Claudie if you will please to show,
Pity a maid distracted, for there I have to go
In search of a wandering lover, Johnny is his name,
And on the banks of Claudie I’m told he does remain.”

Said I, “My charming creature I beg you change your plan,
Do not depend on Johnny for he’s a false young man,
That you have been misguided it plainly does appear,
Come tarry with me in those green woods, no danger need you fear.”

“If my Johnny he were here to-night he’d keep me from all harm,
He’s on the field of battle, he’s in his uniform,
He’s on the field of battle, his foes he will destroy
Like a noble gladiator on the field of ancient Troy.”

“It is now six weeks and better since your true love left these shores,
He is cruising the wide ocean where the foaming billows roar,
He is cruising the wide ocean for honour and for gain,
I was told his ship was wrecked and lost off the rugged coast of Spain.”

When she heard those dreadful tidings she fell into despair
To a wringing of her hands and a tearing of her hair
“Since he has gone and left me no lover will I take
But in some lonely valley I will wander for his sake.”

His heart was filled with rapture, no longer could he wait
He flew into her arms and cried, “Dear Flora I’m your mate,
I am that wandering lover whom you thought among the slain,
And since we’ve met on Claudie’s banks we’ll never part again.”


These are part of a series of recordings made by Helen Creighton at the behest of the Smithsonian. All of these tracks are from the singer Angelo Dornan, who lived in Elgin, NB at the time of recording. He was raised in New Brunswick - but spent most of his life in Saskatchewan, farming. When he was a child, he heard both of his parents singing, and it must have made a deep impression on him, as 60 years later, when he retired back to NB he remembered 125 songs that his parents used to sing when he was a child. Most of the repertoire is from Northern Ireland - as that's where his family came from.

Banks of Claudy

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