My Bonnie Boy (The Folk Collection 1955-1962, 2014)
The trees they grow tall, the grass is growing green; Many a cold and winter night that I alone have been It is a cold and cruel night when I must lie alone The Bonny Boy is young, but he is growing
Oh! father, dear father I think you done me wrong To go and get me married to one who is so young For he is only sixteen years and I am twenty-one The bonny boy is young but he's growing
Oh! daughter, dear daughter, I did not do you wrong For I have married you to a rich man's son And he shall be a match for thee when I am dead and gone He is young, but he is daily growing
Oh! father, dear father, I'll tell you what I'll do; I'll send the boy to college for another year or two; And all around his college cap, I'll bind a ribbon blue For to let the ladies know that he's married
A year it went by and I passed the college wall And saw the young collegians a-playing at the ball; Amidst them was my own true love, the fairest of them all He was young but he was daily growing
At the age of sixteen he was a married man And at the age of seventeen he was the father of a son At the age of eighteen, his grave had all grown green; And the death put an end to his growing
I'll make my love a shroud of ornamental brown; And whilst I am a making it, the tears they will run down; For once I had my own love, now he's lying low And I'll nurse his bonny boy while he's growing.