Lovely Joan is a traditional English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk song (Roud

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 #592), and the tune to which it is sung. Its melody is most familiar to modern audiences as the counterpoint tune used in British composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

  Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...

's Fantasia on "Greensleeves

Greensleeves

"Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580 as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of...

".

Lyrics

The words to "Lovely Joan," as printed in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, are as follows:

A fine young man it was indeed,

He was mounted on his milk-white steed;

He rode, he rode himself all alone,

Until he came to lovely Joan.

"Good morning to you, pretty maid."

And, "Twice good morning, sir", she said.

He gave her a wink, she rolled her eye.

Says he to himself, "I'll be there by and by."

"Oh don't you think those pooks of hay

A pretty place for us to play?

So come with me like a sweet young thing

And I'll give you my golden ring."

Then he pulled off his ring of gold.

"My pretty little miss, do this behold.

I'd freely give it for your maidenhead."

And her cheeks they blushed like the roses red.

"Give me that ring into my hand

And I will neither stay nor stand,

For this would do more good to me

Than twenty maidenheads," said she.

And as he made for the pooks of hay

She leaped on his horse and tore away.

He called, he called, but it was all in vain

Young Joan she never looked back again.

She didn't think herself quite safe,

No, not till she came to her true love's gate.

She's robbed him of his horse and ring,

And left him to rage in the meadows green.

Sung by C. Jay, Acle, Norfolk (R.V.W. 1908).

Other Uses

The melody for Lovely Joan was used by Emerson, Lake & Powell

Emerson, Lake & Powell

Emerson, Lake & Powell, sometimes abbreviated as ELPowell, were an English rock band, an offshoot or variant lineup of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, that released one official studio album in 1986....

 on the track Touch and Go of their eponymous album Emerson Lake & Powell

Emerson, Lake & Powell (album)

Emerson, Lake & Powell is the only studio album recorded by the ELP offshoot band of the same name. It was recorded in 1985 and released in 1986 on Polydor Records. However, two further albums comprising rehearsals and live material were subsequently issued in 2003...

in 1986 (uncredited).