As I went out one morning for to take the pleasant air
The birds were singing in the trees and the weather it was fair
I sat for a while to rest my back at the foot of a shady oak
When by there come a band of men with their faces black as smoke

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again

Now the first to come in was a soldier with his rifle in his hand
He'd just returned from fighting wars in many's the distant land
And he'd left his regiment sleeping at the foot of a foreign hill
And he's returned to England for to kill or to be killed

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again

And the next to come in was a sailor, he'd just returned from the sea
He'd sailed away for seven long years, till at last he was set free
That evening as the sun went down, he'd anchored by the shore
And he's returned to England for to fight one battle more

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again

In the middle of the forest where the blackbirds sweet did sing
The soldier and the sailor took their place inside a ring
And when the battle started they went at it blow by blow
And when the battle ended, down their backs the blood did flow

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again

Now a chimney sweep and a doctor come a walking arm in arm
And when they saw the bodies there, they showed no alarm
For the doctor he'd been traveling thru Italy, France, and Spain
And he had in his bag a tiny flask for to ease the ache and pain

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again

He gave a drink to the soldier who rose up from the ground
And he began to sing his song as he passed the bottle round
And the sailor, the same up from the ground, as sure as he was born
And the soldier, the sailor, the doctor, and the sweep, they danced into the
dawn

So it's rise up jock and sing your song
For the summer is short and the winter long
Let's all join hands and form a chain
Till the leaves of springtime bloom again