verse 1
Come all ye fair and tender maidens
Take warning how you court young men
They're like a star of a summer's morning
First they'll app-e-a-r and then they're gone.
verse 2
They'll tell to y-ou some loving story
They'll swear to y-ou their love is true
Straightway they'll g - o and court another
And that's the love that they had for you.
verse 3
If I'd a kn-own before I courted
That love it was such a killin' thing
I'd lock my heart in a box of golden
And fastened it up with a silver chain.
verse 4
O do you rememb-er our days of courtin'
When your head lay upon my breast
You could make me believe with the falling of your eyes
That the sun rose in the west.
Verse 5
I wish I w-a-s a little sparrow
And I had wings and I could fly
I'd fly away to my own true lover
And when he speaks I won't deny.
Verse 6
But I am not no little sparrow
I have no wings neither can I fly
I'll sit right do-wn in my grief and sorrow
And let my troubles pass me by.
Verse 7
Come all ye fair and tender maidens
Take warning how you court young men
They're like a star of a summer's morning
First they'll app-e-a-r and then they're gone.