The Ballad Of George Collins
Sam Lee Lyrics

George Collins walked out one May morning
On a pleasant spring day, George Collins takes a walk

When May was all in bloom,
The month of May, with all its trees and flowers appearing beautiful

And who should he see but a fair pretty maid
He encounters an attractive young woman

A-washing a white marble stone
She is washing a grave marker made of white marble

She whooped, she hollered, she called so loud
She shouted loudly and energetically to get his attention

She waved her lily-white hand
She made a gesture to signal him to come closer

Come hither to me, George Collins, cried she
She urges George Collins to come over to her

For your life it won't last you long
She warns him that his days are numbered

He put his benbow down by the bank side
George Collins leaves his work instrument by the river

Across the river sprang he
He quickly jumps across the river

He clipped his hands 'round her middle so small
He embraces her waist strongly

And he kissed her red ruby lips
He kisses her passionately

Then he rode home to his father's own house
George Collins goes home to his father's place

And loudly knocked at the ring
He knocks loudly on the door

Arise! Arise! Dear father, he cried,
He calls out to his father, urging him to wake up

Arise and please let me in
He requests to be let inside the house

Arise! Arise! Dear mother, he cried,
He also calls out to his mother

Arise and maketh my bed,
He asks his mother to prepare his bed

Arise! Arise! Dear sister, he cried,
He calls out to his sister as well

Get a napkin to tie 'round my head
He requests a cloth to wrap his head

For if I should die tonight
George Collins predicts that he will die soon

As I suppose I shall
He is resigned to his fate

Please bury me 'neath that white marble stone
He wants to be buried under the same grave marker he saw earlier

That lays in fair Eleander's hall
The grave marker is located in the hall of Eleander's place

Fair Eleander sat all in her hall
Eleander was sitting in her hall

A-weaving her silk so fine
She was working on her delicate silk weaving

Who should she see but the finest corpse
She notices the most impressive corpse

That ever her eyes shone on
She had never seen such a remarkable corpse before

Oh, fair Eleander called unto her head maid
She summons her chief servant

Whose corpse is this oh so fine?
She wants to know the identity of the remarkable corpse

She made her reply, George Collins's corpse,
The head maid tells her it is George Collins's dead body

An old true lover of thine
The head maid informs her that he was once her lover

Oh, put him down my little brave boys
She asks her servants to put him down gently

And open his coffin so wide
She instructs them to open his coffin fully

That I may kiss his red ruby lips
She wants to kiss his lips passionately

Ten thousand times they've kissed mine
She recalls that they had kissed each other countless times before

This news been carried to fair London town
The story spreads to the city of London

And wrote on London Gate,
It was even posted on a gate in London

Six pretty maids died all in one night
Six young women died on the same night

Twas all for George Collins's sake
Their deaths were allegedly caused by their love for George Collins