My parents gave me learning, good learning they gave to me
For they sent me to a butcher's shop a butcher boy to be
It's there I met sweet Mary Ann with a dark and a rovin' eye
And I promised I would marry her in the month of sweet July
He went down to her mother's house 'tween the hours of eight and nine
And he asked her for to walk with him down by the foaming brine
Down by the foaming brine we'll go, down by the foaming brine
Now won't that be a pleasant walk, down by the foaming brine?
They walked it east and they walked it west and they walked it all alone
Till he took a knife from out his breast and he stabbed her to the ground
She fell upon one bended knee and for mercy she did cry
Now Billie dear, don't murder me, I'm not prepared to die
He took her by the lily-white hands and he dragged her through the broom
And with a mighty downward push he threw her body in
He went back to his mother's house 'tween the hours of twelve and one
And little did his mother know what her only son had done
He asked her for a handkerchief to tie around his head
And he asked her for a candlelight to show him off to bed
No sleep, no rest did the young man get, no rest he could not find
For he thought he saw the gates of hell approaching his bedside
And the murder it was soon found out and the gallows was his doom
For the murdering of sweet Mary Ann who lies where the roses bloom
Lyrics provided by LRCLIB
