Songs

There was a wise old woman and her story I will tell,
She loved her husband dearly and another man just as well.
With my tigaree torum orum and my torum orum me
And my tigaree torum orum and the blind man he can see.

Now she went into the doctor’s shop some medicine for to buy,
She asked the doctor kindly what would close her old man’s eye.

Now get for him some marrow bones and make him suck them all
And when he has the last one sucked, he cannot see you at all.

Now the doctor sent for this old man and told him what she spoke,
He thanked the doctor kindly and he said he’d play the joke.

Now she got for him the marrow bones and she made him suck them all
And when he had the last one sucked, he couldn’t see her at all.

“In this world I have no comfort and it’s here I can’t remain,
Sure I’ll go out and drown myself if I could see the stream.”

“In this world you have no comfort and it’s here you can’t remain
And if you like to drown yourself I’ll show you to the stream.”

“Let you stand on the river bank and I’ll run up the hill.”
“Then push me in with all your might,” he says. “My love, I will.”

Now he stood on the river bank and she ran up the hill
And when she ran down he slipped aside and let her tumble in.

She sank down to the bottom and she floated to the top,
He put a wattle to her side and he shoved her further off.

“Yirra, Johnny, dearest Johnny, are you leaving me behind?”
“Yirra, Nancy, dearest Nancy, sure you thought you had me blind!”