On top of old smokey All covered with snow I lost my true lover From courting too slow For courting's a pleasure And parting's a grief And a false hearted lover Is worse than a thief For a thief will just rob you And take all you save But a false hearted lover Will lead you to the grave And the grave will decay You and turn you to dust Not one girl in fifty A poor boy can trust They'll hug you and kiss you And tell you more lies Than cross lines on a railroad Or stars in the skies
So come all your maidens And listen to me Never place your affections On a green willow tree For the leaves they will wither And the roots they will die You'll all be forsaken And never know why.
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo As I walked out in Laredo one day I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay
I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy These words he did say as I boldly walked by Come sit down beside me and hear my sad story I'm shot in the breast and I know I must die
It was once in the saddle I used to go dashing Once in the saddle I used to go gay First down to Rosie's and then to the card house Got shot in the breast and I'm dying today
Get sixteen gamblers to carry my coffin Get six jolly cowboys to sing me a song Take me to the graveyard and lay the sod o'er me For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
Get six jolly cowboys to carry my coffin Get six pretty maidens to sing me a song Take me to the valley and lay the sod o'er me For I'm a young cowboy, I know I've done wrong
Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly Play the Dead March as they carry me along Put bunches of roses all over my coffin Put roses to deaden the clods as they fall
As I walked out in the streets of Laredo As I walked out in Laredo one day I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen Wrapped in white linen as cold as the clay
