Book of Song

Old Maid in the Garrett

by trad

[D] Now I've often heard it said from me father and me mother
That the [A7] going tae a wedding is the [G] making of a- [D] nother
[D] Well, if this be [G] true, I will [D] go without a biddin
O kind providence, won't you send me tae a wedding

( Chorus
And its [D] O [G] dear [D] me, how would it [G] be,
if I [D] die an old maid in a [A7] garr- [D] et )

Well, there's my sister Jean, she's not handsome or good looking
Scarcely sixteen and a fella she was courting
Now at twenty-four with a son and a daughter
Here am I at forty-five and I've never had an offer

Chorus

I can cook and I can sew and I can keep the house right tidy
Rise up in the morning and get the breakfast ready
There's nothing in this whole world would make me half so cheery
As a wee fat man to call me his own deary

Chorus

So come landsman or come pinsman, come tinker or come tailor
Come fiddler or come dancer, come ploughboy or come sailor
Come rich man, come poor man, come fool or come witty
Come any man at all that will marry me for pity

Chorus

Well now I'm off to home and there's nobody's heeding
Nobody's heeding this poor old nanny's bleating
I'll go away to my own bitty garret
If I can't get a man, then I'll have to get a parrot

Chorus