BY THE DRY CARDRONA (cherry tree) Lyrics by James K. Baxter http://folksong.org.nz/drycardr/index.html (has midi) Oh I can tell where the cherries grow, By the dry Cardrona Where I picked them long ago, On a day when I was sober On a day when I was sober. (Audience repeats the last line of each verse) My father wore a parson's coat By the dry Cardrona He kept a tally of the sheep and the goats, And I was never sober. My mother sewed her Sunday skirt By the dry Cardrona They say she died of a broken heart 'Cause I was never sober. I loved a young miss, and only one By the dry Cardrona But she up and married the banker's son, For I was never sober. I courted a widow of forty-nine By the dry Cardrona She owned a stable and a Scheelite mine, But I was never sober. Oh lay my bones till the judgment crack By the dry Cardrona A blanket swag upon my back, To pillow me drunk or sober. All rivers run to the rimless grave Even the wild Cardrona, But never a one will come my way Till I am stone cold sober. But I can tell where the cherries grow, By the dry Cardrona Where I picked them long ago, On a day when I was sober.
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