It's fare thee well lovely Nancy for now I must leave you
All on the salt oceans I am bound for to steer
But let me long voyage be no trouble to you
For I will be back in the course of a year

Talk not of leaving me here, lovely Johnny
Talk not of leaving me here by the shore
For you know very well your long journey will grieve me
I would have you at home when the loud billows roar

She says I'll cut off me ringlets all curly and yellow
I'll dress in the clothes of a young cabin boy
And when we're out on the dark rolling ocean
I will always be near you, me heart and me joy

Your pretty white hands couldn't handle our tackle
Your pretty wee feet to our topmast won't go
And the cold stormy weather you could not endure, love
Stay at home lovely Nancy, where the wild winds don't blow

As Johnny set sailing lovely Nancy stood wailing
Tears from her eyes in great torrents did flow
As she stood on the beach sure her hands she kept wringing
Crying oh and alas will I ever see you more

As Johnny was a-walking the quays of Philadelphi'
The thoughts of his true love they filled him with pride
Crying Nancy, lovely Nancy if I had you here, love
Oh, how happy I'd be for to make you my bride

Johnny wrote then a letter to his own lovely Nancy
If you will prove constant, then I will prove true
But Nancy lay on deathbed and could not recover
The day that he left her, he'd forever rue

Come all you young maidens a warning take from me
Don't trust a sailor, not one of his kind
'Cause first he will court you, and then he'll deceive you
Their hearts are tempestuous like the wavering wind