THE JOLLY HIGHWAYMAN

The scandal could not be forgotten, though the boy was four years old,
You see, his father was a Highwayman, but his Grampa was the Mayor,
And his mother never married, though she still was young and fair.

Now, the Mayor was not glad the little bastard was around,
Though his mother loved him as if son of Noble or of Knight.
She also left the window of her balcony open every night.

     Waiting for the return of the only man she'd ever loved,
     The Jolly Highwayman.

One night at last it came to pass, the window curtains shook:
There stood the Jolly Highwayman with cloak and hat and gun.
She asked, "Have you come for me?"  He said, "I've come to see my son."

She took him to the boy and there the three of them embraced,
Then she took him to her bed where she offered him the night.
He said, "I'll have to go before the first cock crowing of daylight."

     Yo, ho ho ho, the Jolly Highwayman,
     No longer just a lad.
     Still a dancer and a devil
     But also now a dad.

But the Mayor's men were waiting, for they knew he'd someday show,
And had watched that balcony for years, so now their chance had come.
They finally took him prisoner, although he wounded every one.

They bound his hands with hemp and promptly took him to the Mayor,
Who rose from bed of evil dreams of sharp malignant fun.
His daughter pleaded with her father not to harm the father of her son.

     Begging for the safety of the only man she'd ever loved,
     The Jolly Highywayman--united now at last,
     The time they'd had together was taken hard and fast.  

But the Mayor smiled with cold mean scorn, and called his daughter, "Slut!
You have sullied my good name, and thus you bait my trap!"
She wept, but the Highwayman laughed and said, "It's just the same old  
crap.

     "Now Milady can you see whay I had to choose to be
     The Jolly Highwayman, and ride against this cruel and crooked
     Politician who has sore oppresssed the poor,
     And now you see what even you are to him."

The Mayor passed his sentence as a storm began to rise,
Then they took him to the gibbet where they hang those doomed to die.
As the wild was blowing wilder and the stormhead filled the sky.

The thunder was colliding with the lightning and the rain
As they put the noose around his neck and cinched it rather well.
Of course he did not flinch and only laughed and said, "I'll see you 
  all in Hell!"

And even as the trap was pulled she rode up on his horse,
His pistol in her hand, with which she shot the rope in twain.
He landed right between her and his son and they rode into the rain.

     And all the Mayor's Cavalry could not catch the Family
     Of the Jolly Highwayman--united now at last.
     The time they had together was taken hard and fast.
     Yes, they took it hard and fast
     In the days of years gone past.

      Am                         F               E
There was a Jolly Highwayman, he rode around and stole,

                                       C     E         Am
He was a bold and handsome hero to the poor around the land,

      F                            E             Am
But a bastard and a villain to the tyrants in command.


            Am                        F            E
One day the Mayor's only daughter was passing on a stage:

                              C      E     Am
She was a flaming beauty whom no man could resist,

      F                             E                Am
But a fanatic hard-core virgin whom never no man had kissed. 


     F         E             Am
     Yo, ho ho ho, the Jolly Highwayman,

       F                 E
     A bold and handsome lad,

       G            D
     A dancer and a devil, 

             C             G
     Ah, but was he really bad?