As I Roved Out

Tommy Makem

As I roved out on a May morning
On a May morning right early
I met my love upon the way
Oh, Lord but she was early

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And she sang lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle-dee,-
And she hi-di-lan-di-dee, and she hi-di-lan-di-dee and she lan- day

Her boots were black and her stockings white
And her buckles shone like silver
She had a dark and a rolling eye
And her ear-rings tipped her shoulder

[Chorus]

"What age are you my bonny wee lass
What age are you my honey?"
Right modestly she answered me
"I'll be seventeen on Sunday"

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"Where do you live my bonny wee lass
Where do you live my honey?"
"In a wee house up on the top of the hill
And I live there with my mammy"

[Chorus]

"If I went to the house on the top of the hill
When the moon was shining clearly
Would you arise and let me in
And your mammy not to hear you?"

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I went to the house on the top of the hill
When the moon was shining clearly
She arose to let me in
But her mammy chanced to hear her

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She caught her by the hair of the head
And down to the room she brought her
And with the butt of a hazel twig
She was the well-beat daughter

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"Will you marry me now my soldier lad
Will you marry me now or never?
Will you marry me now my soldier lad
For you see I'm done forever"

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"I can't marry you my bonny wee lass
I can't marry you my honey
For I have got a wife at home
And how could I disown her?"

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A pint at night is my delight
And a gallon in the morning
The old women are my heart break
But the young ones is my darling

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