Fairport Convention - Jack O'Rion lyrics

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 co*ks 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 co*ks 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 co*k 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 co*k 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