Lyrics for 2,118 of Your Favorite Bluegrass Songs

Traditional

1                                                         5
Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong,
1                                 6m
Farewell, farewell to thee,
1                                                 5
MacPherson's life will no be long
1         4         5
Upon yon gallows tree.

Chorus:
Say rantingly and say wantonly,
Say dauntingly gaed he;
He play'd a tune, and danc'd around
Below the gallows tree.

Take off these bands from on my hands
And give to me my sword
For there's no a man in all Scotland
But I'll brave him at his word

There's some come here to see me die
and some to buy my fiddle
but before that I will part with her
I'll break her through the middle.

So he took his fiddle in both his hands
And he broke it o'er a stone,
Saying there's no man shall play on thee
When I am dead and gone.

Chorus

The crew was coming o're the Brig of Banf
To set MacPherson free,
But they set the clock a quarter before
And they hanged him from a tree.

Chorus