Cruel Mother Songtext
von The Owl Service

There was a lady lived in York
All alone and alone-y
She was courted by her father′s clerk
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

He courted her for seven years long
All alone and alone-y
Till at last she proved in child by him
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

She bent her back against a tree
All alone and alone-y
And there she found great misery
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

She bent her back against a thorn
All alone and alone-y
And there she had two pretty babes born
Down by the Greenwood Sidey


She had a pen-knife long and sharp
All alone and alone-y
And she pressed it through their tender hearts
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

She digged a grave both wide and long
All alone and alone-y
And she buried them under a marble stone
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

And she was sat in her father's home
All alone and alone-y
When she saw two pretty babes playing at ball
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

Oh babes, oh babes if you were mine
All alone and alone-y
I would dress you up in scarlet fine
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

Oh mother, oh mother once we were thine
All alone and alone-y
And you did not dress us in scarlet fine
Down by the Greenwood Sidey


Oh babes, oh babes come tell to me
All alone and alone-y
If you know what your future means to me
Down by the Greenwood Sidey

Oh mother, mother you know right well
All alone and alone-y
′Tis we for heaven, and you for Hell
Down by the Greenwood Sidey