The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3563   Message #18167
Posted By: Jon W.
23-Dec-97 - 10:49 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Bonnie Labouring Boy
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BONNIE LABOURING BOY
And just in case that isn't enough here's another slightly different version:

The Bonny Laboring Boy

As I went out one mornin' fair, all in the bloomin' spring,
I overheard a damsel fair, most grievously did sing,
"Oh cruel were my parents, they did me sore annoy,
For they would not let me tarry with my bonnie Irish boy."

Says a mother to her daughter, "Why do you stoop so low?
To marry a poor laborin' boy, around the world to go.
Some noble lord might fancy you, great riches to enjoy,
So do not throw yourself away on a poor laborin' boy."

Says a daughter to her mother, "Your talk is all in vain,
for knights and lords and dukes and earls, I hold them in disdain.
I'd rather live a humble life, my time I would employ
to ekein' happy prospects on my bonnie laborin' boy."

If I had all the money now that great men have in store,
It's freely I'd bestow it on the boy I do adore,
If duty so entangled me, the truth I'd never deny
In the arms of my bonnie laborin' boy I mean to live and die.

So fill your glasses to the brim, and let the toast go round
Here's a health to every laborin' boy that plows and sows the ground,
for when his work is over, it's home he'll go with joy,
and happy is the girl who weds a bonnie laborin' boy.

From "The Green Hills of Ireland" by Boys of the Lough
Sung by Cathal McConnell