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Cruel Mother
Nancy Kerr
,
Martin Simpson
,
Andy Cutting
Popularity · Low
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Original
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Lyrics
Original
Translation
Bilingual
There was a lady lived in York
Come gentle hearts, be to me true
She fell in love with her father's clerk
Go bear away the boughs of yew
She loved him long and many a day
Come gentle hearts, be to me true
'Til big with child, she went away
Go bear away the boughs of yew
She went unto the wilderness
Come gentle hearts, be to me true
Being pitied for her heaviness
Go bear away the boughs of yew
She leaned her back against a thorn
Come gentle hearts be to me true
And there she has two babies born
Go bear away the boughs of yew
She took a penknife long and sharp
Come gentle hearts be to me true
And stabbed them both right to the heart
Go bear away the boughs of yew
The black, black earth it was their bed
Come gentle hearts be to me true
The green, green grass their coverlet
Go bear away the boughs of yew
As she passed by her father's hall
Come gentle hearts be to me true
She saw two babes play at the ball
Go bear away the boughs of yew
"Oh babes, oh babes, if you were mine,"
Come gentle hearts be to me true
"I'd dress you up in silks so fine."
Go bear away the boughs of yew
"Oh mother, oh mother, we once were thine,"
Come gentle hearts be to me true
"But now we sleep with Christ Divine."
Go bear away the boughs of yew
"Oh mother, mother, for your sin,"
Come gentle hearts, be to me true
"The gates of Hell you'll enter in."
Go bear away the boughs of yew
"But Heaven is not my babies' bed,"
Come gentle hearts, be to me true
"And Hell is not to this despair,"
Go bear away the boughs of yew
"For I leaned my back against an oak,"
Come gentle hearts be to me true
"But first it bent and then it broke."
Go bear away the boughs of yew