This is the Barra MacNeils' version of the traditional Irish tune "Banks of the
Roses". The lyrics are a little different from what you might be familiar with,
just sing it how you like, it will still fit fine.
This is a great bar tune, so enjoy.
Chorus:
C G C
By the banks of the roses my love and I sat down.
F C G C
And I took out my fiddle for to play my love a tune,
F C G Am
In the middle of the tune, me boy, she smiled and she said,
C F G C
Oh Johnny, lovely Johnny don't you leave me.
C G C
When I was a young lad I heard me father say,
F C G C
That he'd rather see me dead,and buried in the clay,
F C G Am
Sooner than be married to any run away,
C F G C
By the lovely sweet banks of the roses.
[Chorus]
C G C
Well now I am no run away and soon I'll have you know,
F C G C
That I can take the bottle, or I can leave it alone,
F C G Am
And if her daddy doesn't like it, he can keep his daughter home,
C F G C
And young Johnny will go roving with another.
[Chorus]
C G C
When I am married, 'twill be in the month of May,
F C G C
When the leaves they are green, and the meadows they are gay,
F C G Am
And me and my true love will sit and sport and play.
C F G C
By the lovely sweet banks of the roses.
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
C F G C
Oh Johnny, lovely Johnny don't you leave me.
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