Jack o'rion lyrics

Artist  : Fairport convention 
Song : Jack o'rion
 
Jack O'Rion was the finest fiddler ever fiddled on
the string
He could drive young ladies wild with a tune his
wires would sing
He could fiddle the fish out of salt water, water
from a marble stone
Or milk from out a maiden's breast though baby
she had none
There he played in the castle hall and there he
played them fast asleep
Except it was for the young countess who, for
love, she stayed awake
So first he played her a slow air and then he
played it brisk and gay
And oh, dear love, behind her glove, this lady
she did say
"Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crowed
and flapped their wings so wide
It's you must come to my chamber there and lie
down by my side"
So he wrapped his fiddle in a cloth of green and
he stole out on his a-tip-a-toe
And he's off back to his young boy Tom as fast as
he could go
"Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crowed
and flapped their wings so wide
I'm bid to go to the lady's door and stretch out
by her side"
"Lie down, lie down, my good master, here's a
blanket to your hand
And I'll waken you in as good a time as any cock
in this land"
Now Tom took the fiddle into his hand, he fiddled
and he played for a full hour
Until he played him fast asleep; he's off to the
lady's bower
And when he came to her chamber door, he twirled
softly at the pin
The lady, true to her promise, rose up and let
him in
He did not take that lady gay to bolster nor to
bed
But down upon the hard cold floor right soon he
had her laid
And he did not kiss her when he came nor yet but
from her he did go
But in out the lady's bedroom window, the moon
like a coal did glow
"Ragged are your stockings, love, and stubbly is
your cheek and chin
And tousled is that yellow hair that I saw
yestereve"
"These stockings belong to my boy Tom, they were
the first came to my hand
The wind must have tousled my yellow hair and I
rode over the land"
Now Tom took the fiddle into his hand, he fiddled
and he played so saucily
He's off back to his master's house as fast as go
could he
"Wake up, wake up, oh my good master, why snore
you there so loud?
There's not a cock in all this land but has
clapped his wings and crowed"
Jack O'Rion took the fiddle into his hand and he
fiddled and he played so merrily
He's off away to the lady's house as fast as go
could he
And when he came to the lady's door, he twirled
so softly at the pin
Saying "Oh, my dear, it's your true love, rise up
and let me in"
She said "Surely you didn't leave behind a golden
brooch nor a velvet glove
Or are you returning back again to taste more of
my love?"
Jack O'Rion, he swore a bloody oath, by oak, by
ash, by bitter thorn
"Lady, I never was in your house since the day
that I was born"
"Oh, then it was your young boy Tom that cruelly
has beguiled me"
"Oh woe, that the blood of that ruffian boy did
spring in my body"
Jack O'Rion sped off to his own house, saying
"Tom, my boy, come here to me"
He hung him from his own gatepost, high as a
willow tree