Young Molly was handsome and pretty
I dressed and put on me new coat
And off to the mainland to meet her
Myself and the small rowing boat
I hadn't gone more than a furlong
When holes in the bottom did sproat
A big wave came up and capsized me
Myself and the small rowin' boat
Well up came a great big sea serpent
He was forty feet long now or more
He had one look at seldom features
And offered to take me ashore
"Oh where are you goin' in such weather?"
"I was going courtin' Molly,"says I.
"For there's no young ones left on the island
So how's a young man to get by?"
Why don't you and Molly get married
And then you can both stay at home
For it's better to suffer in marriage
Than cathin' your d**h in the cold
Well tonight I will ask her to marry
I'm hopin' that she will agree
for I'd rather be poor and be married
Than riskin' me life on the sea
Come up the stairs, up the stairs,
Come up the stairs, Molly O
Come up the stairs, Come up the stairs,
Bring somethin‘ to warm me old bones
(It's yourself could be warmin'me bones)