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Come all you young and youthful friends I hope you'll lend an ear,
And listen unto these few lines that draw from me a tear;
I'm heavy bound in irons strong to await my coming fate,
Far from my home, I'm here alone in the South Carolina State.
When I was young and foolish I left my happy home,
To seek for sport and pleasure so far away did roam;
I volunteered for the Northern Wars to fight for gold so bright,
They used me so severely that I left them in the night.
Soon I was overtaken and forced before to stand,
They bound my feet in irons strong, they handcuffed my two hands;
They locked me in a dreadful cell to await my coming doom,
They sentenced me to hang upon the twenty-first of June.
Here's adieu unto my father when he will realize,
Likewise unto my mother where will she comfort find;
Likewise unto my comrades all for me will heave a sigh,
When I thinks upon my happy home, seems hard for me to die.
Here's adieu unto my brother whose face I never will see,
Likewise unto my sister she was so fond of me;
At nine o'clock I'm doomed to die all by my comrades' hands,
Far from my home I'm here alone into some foreign land.
There is one thing more I will ask of you if you carry my body home,
And bury it with my sister beneath the marble stone;
And plant upon my youthful brow a weeping willow tree,
For there's many a young and a youthful friend may they all shed tears for me.
Sung by Alexander March (1865-1953) of Port au Port, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was collected in 1976 from Edward Ward of Southeast Bight, NL, by Genevieve Lehr and Anita Best and published as #100 in Come And I Will Sing You: A Newfoundland Songbook, p.174, edited by Genevieve Lehr (University of Toronto Press, 1985/2003)
Genevieve Lehr noted that according to Edward Ward this song is about a Newfoundlander who went to fight in the war for American Independence.
