 Traditional
It's of two noble butchers as I have heard men say
Started out from London all on a market day
And as they were a-riding as fast as they could ride
'Oh, stop your horse' - says Johnson - ‘for I hear some woman cry'
‘I will not stop' - says Wilson - ‘I will not stop' - says he
‘I will not stop' - says Wilson - ‘for robbed we shall be'.
Johnson, he got off his horse, searched the woods all ‘round
And there he spied a woman with her hair pinned to the ground
‘How came you here, dear woman ? How came you here fast bound ?'
‘How came you here this morning with your hair pinned to the ground ?'
‘They robbed me, they stripped me, they left me here fast bound'
'They left me here this morning with my hair pinned to the ground'.
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people from such bad company.
Then Johnson, he being a valiant man and a man of courage bold
He took his coat from off his back to keep her from the cold
And as they were a-riding as fast as they could ride
She put a whistle to her mouth and she gave three shivering cries
Up jumped three bold and swaggering men with swords all in their hands
Who then commanded Johnson, commanded him to stand
‘I'll stop, I'll stand' - says Johnson - ‘as long as I can stand'
'For never was I, in all my life, afraid of any man'.
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people from such bad company.
Oh, two of them he quickly slew and the third he did not mind
'Til the false young woman took a knife and stabbed him from behind
Poor Johnson he spun round about and he fell down to the ground
And he cursed that wretched woman who gave him his death wound
Now the day it being a market day, there were people travelling by
Who saw the awful murder, who saw poor Johnson die
Now Johnson he was a valiant man and a valiant man was he
May God keep all good people from such bad company.
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people
May God keep all good people from such bad company.
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