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The Grey Cock, or The Lover’s Ghost, or Willie’s Ghost, or The Night Visiting Song

lyrics

‘I must be going, no longer staying,
The burning Thames I have to cross.
Oh I must be guided without a stumble
Into the arms of my dear lass.’

When he came to his true love’s window
He knelt down gently on a stone,
And it’s through a pane he whispered slowly
‘Oh Mary dear, are you alone?’

She rose her head from her down-soft pillow,
And snowy were her milk-white breasts,
Saying ‘Who’s there, who’s there at my bedroom window
Disturbing me from my long night’s rest?’

‘Oh I’m your lover and can’t discover,
I pray you rise, love, and let me in
For I’m weary from my long night’s journey,
Besides I am wet into the skin.’

This young girl rose and put on her clothing,
She quickly let her true love in.
Oh they kissed, held hands, and embraced together
Till that long night was near an end.

‘Oh Willie dear, oh dearest Willie,
Where’s that colour you had some time ago?’
‘Oh Mary dear, the clay has changed me,
I’m but the ghost of your Willie now.’

‘Oh cock, oh cock, oh handsome cockerel,
I pray you not crow till it is day,
For your wings I’ll make of the finest beaten gold,
Your comb I’ll make of the silver grey.’

But the cock it crew and it crew so fully,
It crew three hours before ’twas day,
And before it was day her love had to leave her
Not by light of moon nor by light of day.

‘Oh Willie dear, oh darling Willie,
Whenever shall I see you again?’
‘When the fish they fly, love, and the seas run dry, love,
And the rocks they melt in the heat of day.’

credits

from A Life Spent Staring At Chairs, released April 9, 2018
Traditional song, arranged by Paul Carbuncle.

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Paul Carbuncle Nottingham, UK

You can take the lad out of Pluckley but he'll still sing about hops.

Profile photo by Hugh Miller.

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