Black Chimney Sweeper

Come all you pretty fair maids who wish for to marry,
From sixteen to eighteen, From eighteen to twenty,
From sixteen to eighteen, From eighteen to twenty,
For I'm twenty-five and I never hadn't any.

cho: Mush a whang torrel lorrel lorrel,
Whang torrel laddie.

Now there's my sister Susie, she's younger than I am,
She's got sweethearts at twenty and is going to deny them,
But I'm twenty-five and I haven't gotten any,
Oh God knows in my heart I'd be thankful for any.

Now there's my sister Katie, she vowed and was taken,
At the age of sixteen a bride she was makin',
Now she is eighteen, got a son and a daughter
And I am twenty-five and I never had an offer.
I heard of a prophecy as spoken by my mother
That goin' to a weddin' would bring on another,
If I heard of a weddin' I would go without a biddin'
For God knows in me heart I'd be fond of a weddin'.

Come ink man, come pen man, come brewer, come baker,
Come fiddler, come fifer, come weaver, come tailor,
Come ragman, hangman, foolish man or whiddy (sic) ,
Will you let me die a maid, won't you marry me for pity?

No ink man, no pen man, no brewer, no baker,
No fiddler, no fifer, no weaver, no tailor,
No ragman, no hangman, foolish man or whiddy
But she's now in the arms of a black chimney sweeper.

Now he has got her and embraces her sweet charms,
Now he enfolds her in his black sooty arms,
Now he has got her and he swears he will keep her
For she's now in the arms of a black chimney sweeper.
From Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick, Creighton
Collected from Captain Cecil Jeffreys (between 1954 and 1960)
Note: (from the collector) "It is not revealed here how the chimney
sweeper came into the picture, but the Fowke version from Ontario says
the devil sent him."
RG