Chorus:
By the banks of the roses, my love and I sat down
And I took out my fiddle, to play my love a tune
In the middle of the tune, she sighed and she said
“Oh Johnny, lovely Johnny, do not leave me.”

“When I was a young girl, I heard my father say
That he’d rather see me dead, and buried in the clay
Sooner than be married to any runaway
By the lovely sweet banks of the roses.”

Chorus

“I am no runaway and soon I’ll let you know
That I can take a bottle, or leave it well alone
The mother who don’t like me can keep her daughter home
And I will go roving with another.” Chorus

“If ever I get married, it’ll be in the month of May
When the trees they are green and the meadows they are gay
Then me and my true love can sit, sport, and play
By the lovely sweet banks of the roses.”

Chorus
 

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