Jack Orion by Bert Jansch Lyrics
Jack Orion was as good a fiddler
As ever fiddled on a string
He could make young women mad
To this tune his fiddle sang
He could fiddle the fish out of salt water
Or water from a marble stone
Or the milk out of a maiden's breast
Though baby she got none
As a-he sat fiddling in a castle hall
He's played them all so sound asleep
Excepting for the young countess
And for love, she stayed awake
First he played a slow, slow air
And then he played it brisk and gay
And oh, dear love, behind her hand
This lady she did say
When the day has dawned and the cocks have crown
And spread their wings so wide
It's you who may come to my bedroom door
To lay down by my side
So he slept his fiddle in a cloth of green
And stole out on his tip-toe
And then he's run off to his own house
As fast as he could go
When day has dawned and the cocks have crown
And spread their wings so wide
It's I am bidden to that lady's door
To stretch out by her side
Lie down and rest my good master
And here's a blanket to your head
I'll waken you in as good a time
As any cockerel in the land
When Tom took the fiddle into his hand
He fiddled and sang for a full hour
And he made his master fast asleep;
And he's off to the lady's bower
And when he came to that lady's door
He's twirled so softly at the pin
And the lady true to her promise
Rose up and let him in
Well he didn't take that lady, that lady gay
To bolster nor to bed
But down upon her bower floor
He quickly had her laid
He neither kissed her when he came
Nor yet when from her he he did go
And in and out of the window
The moon like a coal did glow
Oh ragged are your stockings, love
And stubbly is your cheek and chin
And tangled is that yellow hair
That I saw yesterday
The stockings belong to my boy Tom
They were the first that came to my hand
The wind it did tangle my yellow hair
As I rode over the land
Tom took his a-fiddle into his hand
So saucy though he, he did sing
And then he's off to his master's house
As a-fast as he could run
Rise up, rise up, my good master
Why do you snore so loud?
Ah there's not a cock in all this land
But has clapped his wings and crowed
Jack Orion's off to that lady's house
As a-fast as he could run
Saying "here am i
De-n-dee-dn-dum-da
Rise up and let me in"
"sh-Surely you didn't leave behind
A bracelet or a velvet glove
Or is it you've come back again
To taste more of my love?"
Whoaa
Well Jack Orion swore a bloody oath
By oak and ash and bitter thorn
Saying "Lady, I never was in your house
Since the day that I was born"
Whoa-o-whoa, oh
"Oh, then it was your young footpage
That has so cruelly beguiled me
And woe, that the blood of the ruffian lad
Should spring in my body"
Oh Jack Orion's run to his own house
Saying "Tom, me boy, come here to me"
And He's hung that boy from his own gatepost
As high as a willow tree
O-whoa-o-whoa
As ever fiddled on a string
He could make young women mad
To this tune his fiddle sang
He could fiddle the fish out of salt water
Or water from a marble stone
Or the milk out of a maiden's breast
Though baby she got none
As a-he sat fiddling in a castle hall
He's played them all so sound asleep
Excepting for the young countess
And for love, she stayed awake
First he played a slow, slow air
And then he played it brisk and gay
And oh, dear love, behind her hand
This lady she did say
When the day has dawned and the cocks have crown
And spread their wings so wide
It's you who may come to my bedroom door
To lay down by my side
So he slept his fiddle in a cloth of green
And stole out on his tip-toe
And then he's run off to his own house
As fast as he could go
When day has dawned and the cocks have crown
And spread their wings so wide
It's I am bidden to that lady's door
To stretch out by her side
Lie down and rest my good master
And here's a blanket to your head
I'll waken you in as good a time
As any cockerel in the land
When Tom took the fiddle into his hand
He fiddled and sang for a full hour
And he made his master fast asleep;
And he's off to the lady's bower
And when he came to that lady's door
He's twirled so softly at the pin
And the lady true to her promise
Rose up and let him in
Well he didn't take that lady, that lady gay
To bolster nor to bed
But down upon her bower floor
He quickly had her laid
He neither kissed her when he came
Nor yet when from her he he did go
And in and out of the window
The moon like a coal did glow
Oh ragged are your stockings, love
And stubbly is your cheek and chin
And tangled is that yellow hair
That I saw yesterday
The stockings belong to my boy Tom
They were the first that came to my hand
The wind it did tangle my yellow hair
As I rode over the land
Tom took his a-fiddle into his hand
So saucy though he, he did sing
And then he's off to his master's house
As a-fast as he could run
Rise up, rise up, my good master
Why do you snore so loud?
Ah there's not a cock in all this land
But has clapped his wings and crowed
Jack Orion's off to that lady's house
As a-fast as he could run
Saying "here am i
De-n-dee-dn-dum-da
Rise up and let me in"
"sh-Surely you didn't leave behind
A bracelet or a velvet glove
Or is it you've come back again
To taste more of my love?"
Whoaa
Well Jack Orion swore a bloody oath
By oak and ash and bitter thorn
Saying "Lady, I never was in your house
Since the day that I was born"
Whoa-o-whoa, oh
"Oh, then it was your young footpage
That has so cruelly beguiled me
And woe, that the blood of the ruffian lad
Should spring in my body"
Oh Jack Orion's run to his own house
Saying "Tom, me boy, come here to me"
And He's hung that boy from his own gatepost
As high as a willow tree
O-whoa-o-whoa