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Morton's Return

from From Boston Harbor by Crosscurrents Music

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about

Merry May! For morris dancers who celebrate May morning by dancing up the sun around a maypole, it's fun to remember that the first Maypole in North America was raised in Quincy in 1628. Thomas Morton was an "anti-Puritan" who founded the colony of Merrymount near Wollaston Beach, and organized a Mayday Revels including an 80-foot Maypole with buck's antlers crowned with flowers. "Captain Shrimp" Myles Standish and his Plymouth Colony took a dim view of this, but Morton remained undaunted in his love for his "New Canaan."

lyrics

Chorus
Well, I’ll tarry no longer, to Meremount I shall go
And I’ll drink when ere I want to and dance around the pole
Wild women will attend me in the company of friends
Tell them Old Tommy Morton’s come to Meremount again

I first came to these shores, my fortune to find
In the company of Wollaston and others so inclined
Yet cruelly he deserted us bereft and all alone
In this strange and savage country we made Meremount our home

Quite soon we were befriended by a host of Algonquin
They could hunt and trap and fish, but they were not businessmen
Yet we treated them most squarely in all matters of our trade
Sure as night follows day it seemed our fortunes were made

Chorus

To revel in our fortune a May Pole we did raise
And with our native brothers we danced and sang God’s praise
And with our native sisters we often did lie down
Till the laughter of our revels was heard in Plimoth town

Soon word came back from Plimoth that a company of men
Was marching up towards Meremount, our rowdiness to end
We passed a jug amongst us, to fight them was our plan
But when they got to Meremount we were too drunk to stand

Chorus

Well they clapped me into irons and set me out to sea
In a ship set sail for England heavy charges laid on me
Yet no jury would convict me, they freed me from my chains
And I vowed that I would soon return to Meremount again

So we land in the morning, we come in with the tide
For my beloved Meremount I’d cross the whole world wide
It seems what I call pleasure other men mistake for vice
And what others call New England to me is Paradise

Chorus…Tell them Old Tommy Morton’s come to Meremount again

credits

from From Boston Harbor, released June 9, 2022
© Jim Ryan

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Crosscurrents Music Boston, Massachusetts

Lynn Noel brings traditional song and heritage arts online to create community. Lynn has a voice of striking clarity and power, equally at home in rhythmic chanteys and flowing ballads.

Lynn is a respected song session leader on both sides of the Atlantic and the producer and host of the Mermaid's Tavern online folk club. She is currently Program Chair of the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA). ... more

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