On top of Old Smokey,
All covered with snow,
I lost my true lover,
For courting too slow.
For courting’s a pleasure,
But parting is grief,
And a false-hearted lover,
Is worse than a thief.
A thief will just rob you,
And take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover,
Will lead you to your grave.
The grave will decay you,
And turn you to dust,
Not one boy in a hundred
A poor girl can trust.
They’ll hug you and kiss you,
And tell you more lies,
Than crossties on a railroad,
Or stars in the sky.
So come ye young maidens,
And listen to me,
Never place your affection
In a green willow tree.
For the leaves they will wither,
The roots they will die,
And you’ll be forsaken,
And never know why.
my friend was humming this tune and singing the boy scouts version (which i am unable to locate, something about spaghetti and cheese) of it, so i started singing mine, and he was shell shocked that they sang such things to children (it was in my rosyth primary songbook!) and that this is the version i’ve known since childhood? but its true isnt it! why ARE we singing such things to children.
