On the Banks of the Roses my love and I sat down 
And I took out my fiddle for to play my love a tune 
And In the middle of the tune oh she smiled and she said: 
“Dear Johnny, lovely Johnny, would you leave me?” 

When I was a young one I heard my father say 
That he’d rather see me dead and buried in the clay 
Sooner than be married to any runaway 
By the lovely sweet Banks of the Roses 

On the Banks of the Roses my love and I sat down 
And I took out my fiddle for to play my love a tune 
And In the middle of the tune oh she smiled and she said: 
“Dear Johnny, lovely Johnny, would you leave me?” 

Well then I am a runaway and soon I’ll let him know 
That I can take a bottle or can leave it alone 
And if her daddy doesn’t like it he can keep his daughter at home 
And then Johnny will go roving with another 

On the Banks of the Roses my love and I sat down 
And I took out my fiddle for to play my love a tune 
And In the middle of the tune oh she smiled and she said: 
“Dear Johnny, lovely Johnny, would you leave me?” 

And when I get married it will be in the month of May 
When the leaves they are green and the meadows they are gay 
And me and my true love we’ll sit and sport and play 
By the lovely sweet Banks of the Roses 

On the Banks of the Roses my love and I sat down 
And I took out my fiddle for to play my love a tune 
And In the middle of the tune oh she smiled and she said… 
“Dear Johnny, lovely Johnny, would you leave me?”


(c) Folkaholics (traditional)