A-Creepin' and a-Crawlin'

Last Saturday night young Nancy laid sleeping (2x, throughout)
And into her bedroom young Johnny went a-creeping
With his long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee

He said: Lovely Nancy, may I come to bed to you?
She smiled and replied: John, I'm afraid you'll undo me
With your...

His small clothes fell from him and into bed tumbled
She laughed in his face when his breeches he fumbled
With his...

My breeches fit tight, love, I cannot undo them
She smiled and replied: John, you must take a knife to them
With your...

My knife will not cut, love, it ain't worth a cinder
She smiled and replied: John, there's two on the window
With your...

He picked up the knife and he unrest his breeches
The knife it was sharp and it cut through the stitches
With his...

All the night long how they rolled and they tumbled
Before daylight i' the morning Nancy's nightgown he crumpled
With his...

Now nine months being past, it fell on a Sunday
A child it was born with a knife-mark in the window
With a long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee

see Knife in the Window, Sally My Dear, The Tinker
(from Peter Kennedy: Folksongs of Britain & Ireland. Sung by Harry Cox,
Catfield, Norfolk, 1953).
CL
oct96