G7 C
In London city where I did well
G7 C
A butcher boy, I loved right well
Am Dm
He courted me, my life away
G7 C
But now with me, he will not stay
Chorus
G7 C
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
G7 C
I wish I was a maid again
Am Dm
A maid again I ne'er will be
G7 C
'Till cherries grow on an ivy tree
G7 C
I wish my baby it was born
G7 C
And smiling on its daddy's knee
Am Dm
And me poor girl to be dead and gone
G7 C
With the long green grass growing over me
G7 C
She went upstairs to go to bed
G7 C
And calling to her mother said
Am Dm
"Give me a chair 'till I sit down
G7 C
And a pen and ink 'till I write down"
G7 C
At every word she dropped a tear
G7 C
And at every line cried "Willie dear -
Am Dm
Oh, what a foolish girl was I
G7 C
To be led astray by a butcher boy"
G7 C
He went upstairs and the door he broke
G7 C
He found her hanging from a rope
Am Dm
He took his knife and he cut her down
G7 C
And in her pocket, these words he found
G7 C
Oh, make my grave large, wide and deep
G7 C
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
Am Dm
And in the middle, a turtle dove
G7 C
That the world may know, that I died for love.