When First I Came To Caledonia -- Norma Waterson

Sung by Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy on guitar, with Eliza Carthy, fiddle

When first I came to Caledonia,
And I got loading at Number Three,
And I got lodgin' with Donald Norman,
He had a daughter could make good tea.

And it was me and me brother Charlie,
Two bigger shavers you ne'er did see!
We're spearing eels in the month of April,
And starving slaves out on Scataree.

I went to Norman's to buy some brogues, aye,
A cake of soap and a pound of tea,
But Norman said that I could not have them,
'til fish got plenty on Scataree.

So, I went over to their big harbour,
I only went for to see the spray.
I saw a maid from Boulardrie over,
She looked to me like the Queen of May!

If I had pen from Pennsylvania,
And I had paper so snowy white,
And I had ink of a rosy morning,
A true love letter to you I'd write.

I'd put my foot on the deepest ocean,
As far from land as once I could be.
A-sailing over the deepest water,
A woman's love would never bother me.

I 've set my head to a cask of brandy,
And it's a dandy, I do declare,
For when I'm drinking, I'm seldom thinking,
How I could gain that young lady fair.

When first I came to Caledonia,
And I got loading at Number Three,
And I got lodgin' with Donald Norman,
He had a daughter could make good tea.

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  Music

[Joss O'Kelly]

Love this to bits!

[Burton Keeble]

This is the best rendition that I've heard. Plaintive and pretty.

[Hans Fried]

This is beautiful but please don't forget their daughter Eliza Carthy

on the fiddle. Superb.

[blahblahblah85]

wow! This is incredable,,Norma sounds so real and her expression is fantastic. Hope she is feeling better:)