Loreena McKennitt Album

And who are you, me pretty fair maid, and who are you, me honey?
And who are you, me pretty fair maid, and who are you, me honey?
She answered me quite modestly, "I am me mother's darling"
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

And will you come to me mother's house, when the moon is shining clearly
And will you come to me mother's house, when the moon is shining clearly
I'll open the door and I'll let you in, and divil 'o one would hear us
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

So I went to her house in the middle of the night, when the moon was shining clearly
So I went to her house in the middle of the night, when the moon was shining clearly
She opened the door and she let me in, and divil the one did hear us
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

She took me horse by the bridle and the bit, and led him to the stable
She took me horse by the bridle and the bit, and led him to the stable
Saying, "There's plenty of oats for a soldier's horse, to eat it if he is able"
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

Then she took me by the lily-white hand, and led me to the table
Then she took me by the lily-white hand, and led me to the table
Saying, "There's plenty of wine for a soldier boy, to drink if he is able"
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

Then I got up and I made the bed, and I made it nice and aisy
Then I got up and I made the bed, and I made it nice and aisy
Then I got up and laid her down, saying, "Lassie, are you able?"
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

And there we lay till the break of day, and divil a one did hear us
And there we lay till the break of day, and divil a one did hear us
Then I arose, put on me clothes, saying, "Lassie, I must leave you"
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

And when will you return again, and when will we be married
And when will you return again, and when will we be married
When broken shells make Christmas bells, we might then get married
With me too-ry-ay, fol-de-diddle-day, di-re fol-de-diddle dai-rie oh

As I roved out on a bright May morning
To view the meadows and flowers gay
Whom should I spy but my own true lover
As she sat under yon willow tree

I took off my hat and I did salute her
I did salute her most courageously
When she turned around well the tears fell from her
Saying, “False young man, you've deluded me”

A diamond ring I owned I gave you
A diamond ring to wear on your right hand
But the vows you made, love, you went and broke them
And married the lassie that had the land

If I'd married the lassie that had the land, my love
It's that I'll rue till the day I die
When misfortune falls sure no man can shun it
I was blindfolded I'll ne'er deny

Now at nights when I go to my bed of slumber
My thoughts of my true love run in my mind
When I turned around to embrace my darling
Instead of gold sure it's brass I find

And I wish the Queen would call home her army
From the West Indies, Amerikay and Spain
And every man to his wedded woman
In hopes that you and I will meet again

[No lyrics]

It was down by the salley gardens
My love and I did meet
She crossed the salley gardens
With little snow-white feet

She bid me to take life easy
As the leaves grow on the tree
But I was young and foolish
And her I did not agree

In a field down by the river
My love and I did stand
And upon my leaning shoulder
She laid her snow-white hand

She bid me take life easy
As the grass grows on the weirs
But I was young and foolish
And now I am full of tears

It was down by the salley gardens
My love and I did meet
She crossed the salley gardens
With little snow-white feet

She bid me to take life easy
As the leaves grow on the tree
But I was young and foolish
And her I did not agree

Near Banbridge town in the County Down
One morning last July
From a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by
She looked so sweet from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut brown hair
Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself
For to see I was really there

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen
That I met in the County Down

As she onward sped sure I scratched my head
And I looked with a feeling rare
And I said, says I, to a passerby
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
He smiled at me and he says, says he
"That's the gem of Ireland's crown
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann
She's the star of the County Down"

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen
That I met in the County Down

At the harvest fair she'll be surely there
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes
With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked right
For a smile from the nut-brown rose
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke
To my plough rust coloured brown
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen
That I met in the County Down

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay
And from Galway to Dublin town
No maid I've seen like the fair Colleen
That I met in the County Down

I sat within a valley green
I sat there with my true love
My heart strove to choose between
The old love and the new love
The old for her, the new that made
Me think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley

'Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, "The mountain glen
I'll seek at morning early
And join the brave United Men
While soft winds shook the barley"

'Twas sad I kissed away her tears
Her arms around me clinging
When to my ears the fateful shot
Came out the wildwood ringing
The bullet pierced my true love's breast
In life's young spring so early
And all upon my breast she died
While soft winds shook the barley

I bore her to some mountain stream
And many's the summer blossom
I placed with branches soft and green
About her gore-stained bosom
I wept and kissed her clay-cold corpse
Then rushed o'er vale and valley
My vengeance on the foe to wreak
While soft winds shook the barley

'Twas blood for blood without remorse
I took at Oulart Hollow
I placed my true love's clay-cold corpse
Where I full soon may follow
Around her grave I wandered drear
Noon, night and morning early
With aching heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley

Queen Jane lay in labour
Full nine days or more
Till her women so tired
They could no longer bare
They could no longer bare

Good women, good women
Good women that ye my be
Will you open my right side
And find my baby
And find my baby

Oh no cried the women
That's a thing that never can be
We will send for King Henry
And hear what he might say
And hear what he might say

King Henry was sent for
King Henry he did come
Saying, "What ails thee my lady?
Your eyes they look so dim
Your eyes they look so dim"

King Henry, King Henry
Will you do one thing for me?
That's to open my right side
And find my baby
And find my baby

"Oh no," cried King Henry
"That's a thing that I'll never do
If I lose the flower of England
I shall lose the branch too
I shall lose the branch too”

There was fiddling and dancing
On the day the babe was born
But poor Queen Jane of England
Lay cold as the stone
Lay cold as the stone

[No lyrics]

Of all the money that e'er I spent
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas! It was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To mem'ry now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Oh, if I had money enough to spend
And leisure time to sit a while
There is a fair man in this town
That sorely has my heart beguiled
His rosy cheeks and lovely lips
Alone he has my heart in thrall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They're sorry for my going away
And of all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They'd wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all