When first I left childhood and come to a man,
The nation to ramble through soon I began.
A wandering thought would it come to my mind,
And they christened me Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

O'er hill and o'er mountain I used to go.
I slept in the wood and the frost and the snow.
And no anxiety come to me mind.
Contented was Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

But the wind and the rain they gave me quite cold.
My parents behind me were both very old.
My father did weep and my mother did cry.
For the loss of their Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

When sixty long years was over and past,
My poor mother's sorrow was ended at last.
My father the nation did range to and fro.
In search of his Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

And when me past folly was come to an end,
To me own village I soon did attend.
The neighbors told me my parents were dead
With the loss of their Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

Where shall I wander? O where shall I go?
I am so oppressed with sorrow and woe.
I'll sit down and cry till the day that I die.
There's an end to old Ramblin' Robin O. (2x)

Peter Bellamy did this on his LP "Tell It Like It Is", he took it from a Preston broadsheet and set it to music. The tune I have is different, don't know where I got it from now, the words are the same except for the repeating fourth line. Barry

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 5-Jun-02.