Blackbirds and thrushes

As I was a-walking

For my recreation

As down by the gardens

I silently strayed

I heard a young maid

Making great lamentation,

Crying,

Jimmy will be slain in the wars, I'm afraid,

Jimmy will be slain in the wars, I'm afraid.

The blackbirds and thrushes

Sang in the green bushes

The wood-doves and larks

Seemed to mourn for the maid;

And this is the song

That they sang all around her,

They sang:

Jimmy will be slain in the wars, I'm afraid,

Jimmy will be slain in the wars, I'm afraid.

When Jimmy returned

With a flag on his coffin,

They laid his poor body

All dead in his grave;

She cried, I'm forsaken,

My poor heart is broken,

Would that he had never left his fair maid,

Would that he had never left his fair maid.

The blackbirds and thrushes

Sang in the green bushes,

The wood-doves and larks

Seemed to mourn for her:

O would that he had never left!

Would that he had never left...