[Intro]
F C G C
[Verse]
F C Am Dm F
As I was walking by yonder church wall
C Am Dm F
I saw four-and-twenty young men a-playing at the ball
C Am Dm F
I asked for my own true love, but they wouldn't let him come
G Am Dm N.C. Am F
For they said the boy was young but a-growing
[Verse]
C Am Dm F
Father, dear father, you've done to me much wrong
C Am Dm F
You've tied me to a boy, when you know he is too young
C Am Dm F
But he will make a Lord for you to wait upon
G Am Dm N.C. Am
And a lady you will be while he's growing
[Verse]
F C Am Dm F
We'll send him to college for one year or two
C Am Dm F
And maybe in time, the boy will do for you
C Am Dm F
I'll buy you white ribbons to tie around his waist
G Am Dm N.C. Am
For to let the ladies know that he's married
[Instrumental]
F C G C
F C G F G
F C G C
F C G F
[Verse]
C Am Dm F
The trees they do grow high and the leaves they do grow green
C Am Dm F
The day is passed and gone, my love, that you and I have seen
C Am Dm F
It's on a cold winter's night, that I must lie alone
G Am Dm N.C. Am F
For the bonny boy is young but a-growing
[Verse]
C Am Dm F
At the age of sixteen, he was a married man
C Am Dm F
And at the age of seventeen, the father to a son
C Am Dm F
And at the age of eighteen, his grave it did grow green
G Am Dm N.C. Am
Cruel death had put an end to his growing
[Outro]
F C G C
F C G F G
F C G C
F C G C G C