The weaver and the factory maid
Traditional
Oh, when I was a tailor
I carried my bodkin and sheers
When I was a weaver
I carried my rules and my gear
My temples are strong
my shuttle and reed in my hand
and wherever I go,
it's the jolly bold weaver again.
I'm and hand weaver
to me trade
I fell in love
with a factory maid
And if I could
but her favor win
I'd stand beside her
and weave by steam
Me father to me
scornful said
"How could you fancy
a factory maid"
When you could have
girls fine and gay
Dressed like unto
the queen of May"
"Oh, as for your fine girls
I don't care
If I could but
enjoy my dear
I'd stand in the factory
all the day
And she and I'd
keep our shuttles in play
I went to my love's
bedroom door
Where ofentimes
I had been before
But I could not speak
Nor yet get in
The pleasant bed
my love lay in.
"Oh, how can you say
it's a pleasant bed,
When nought lies there
but a factory maid?"
"Well, a factory maid
although she be,
Blessed is the man
that enjoys she"
"Oh, pleasant thoughts
come to me mind
When I turn down
the sheets so fine
And I see her two breasts
standing so
Like two white hills
all covered with snow."
The loom goes click
and the loom goes clack
The shuttle flys forward
and then flys back
The weaver's so bent
he's like to crack
Such a wearysome trade
is the weaving
The yarn is made
into cloth at last
The ends of the weft
they are made quite fast
The weaver's labors
are all gone past
Such a wearysome trade
is the weaving
"Where are the girls?"
"I will tell ya'boy,
The girls have all gone
to weave by steam,
And if you'd fine them
you must rise at dawn
And trudge to the mill
in the early morning."