Johnny Be Fair

Well Johnny be fair and Johnny be fine

and wants me for to wed

And I would marry Johnny but me father up and said

"I'm sad to tell you daughter what your mother never knew,

But Johnny is a son of mine and so he's kin to you"

Well, Jimmy be fair and Jimmy be fine and wants me for to wed

And I would marry Jimmy, but my father up and said

I'm sad to tell you daughter what your mother never knew

But Jimmy, too, is a son of mine and so he's kin to you

Well, Billy be fair and Billy be fine and wants me for to wed

And I would marry Billy, but my father up and said

I'm sad to tell you daughter what your mother never knew

But Billy, too, is a son of mine and so he's kin to you

Well you never seen a girl so sad and sorry as I was

The boys in town are all my kin and my father is the cause

If life should thus continue I shall die a single miss

And so I'll go to mother and complain to her of this

Oh daughter haven't I taught you to forgive and to forget

And if Your father sowed his oats well still you needn't fret

Your father may be father to all the boys in town and still

He's not the one who sired you so marry whom you will