[Verse 1]
G Am C D
When I first come to this country in eighteen and forty-nine
G Am C D
I saw many fair lovers but I never saw mine
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I viewed it all around me, saw I was quite alone
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And me a poor stranger and a long way from home.
[Verse 2]
G Am C D
Well, my true love she won't have me and it's this I understand
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For she wants some free holder and I have no land
G Am C D
I couldn't maintain her on silver and gold
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But all of the other fine things that my love's house could hold.
[Verse 3]
G Am C D
Fair thee well to ol' Mother, fair thee well to my Father, too
G Am C D
I'm going for to ramble this wide world all through
G Am C D
And when I get weary, I'll sit down and cry
G Am C D
And think of my Saro, pretty Saro, my bride.
[Verse 4]
G Am C D
Well, I wished I was a turtledove, had wings and could fly
G Am C D
Far away to my lover's lodgings, tonight I'd draw nigh
G Am C D
And there in her lily-white arms I'd lay there all night
G Am C D
And watch through them little winders for the dawning of light.