(traditional)

Don't sing love songs, you'll wake my mother

She's sleeping here right by my side

And in her right hand a silver dagger,

She says that I can't be your bride.

All men are false, says my mother,

They'll tell you wicked, lovin' lies.

The very next evening, they'll court another,

Leave you alone to pine and sigh.

My daddy is a handsome devil

He's got a chain five miles long,

And on every link a heart does dangle

Of another maid he's loved and wronged.

Go court another tender maiden,

And hope that she will be your wife,

For I've been warned, and I've decided

To sleep alone all of my life.