Traditional

Johnny he promised to marry her
She fears he's with some fair one and gone
There's something that ails him but she don't know what it is
And she's weary of lying alone

Johnny he came at the appointed hour
Knocked on her window so slow
This fair maid arose and hurried on her clothes
And she bid her true love welcome home

She took him by the hand and she laid him down
Felt he was as cold as the clay
She said, my dearest dear, if only I had my wish
This long night would never turn to day

Where is your soft bed of down, my love?
Where are your white Holland sheets?
And where is the fair maid who watches over you
As you lie every night in your sleep?

The sea is my soft bed of down, my love
The sand be my white Holland sheet
The long hungry worms they do feed off me
As I lie every night in the deep

"When will I see you again, my love?
When will you come back again?"
"When little fishes fly and the seas they do run dry
And the hard rocks do melt in the sun."