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There's many a young man leaves his home, his mother to him dear,
"Oh Carolan, dear son, please stay home and do not go away."
Her boy so true to her breast she drew which tore her heart with grief,
It was on that day he sailed away to the land of maple leaf.
He sailed out to the eastward from the westward of the shore,
He sailed out to Cape Breton's Isle where Atlantic seas do roar;
'Twas little did he ever think when he left his home that day,
That the murdering of young Osborne would take his life away.
His money had not long been gone when his friends were but a few,
For three long days and three long nights he knew not what to do;
He called young Osborne to his room and struck him on the head,
He rustled through his pockets as he lay there on the bed.
'Twas early the next morning he made his escape from town,
Being hired to work in a lumbering camp, he said his name was Brown;
The police were quickly notified to find him without bail,
It was less than three weeks after he was locked in Sydney jail.
He called this young man to his room and this to him did say,
"Young man, you're a stranger in this land and what brought you this way?"
"I am a British young man, I'm known by one and all,
Carolan Anderson is my name, I belong to Montreal."
The judge he tried to save him and very hard did try,
The jury found him guilty which meant that he must die;
He called this young man to his room and this to him did say:
"Young man, for the murdering you must die on the twenty-fourth of May."
The day of his execution, 'twas little did he fear,
He talked and joked with friends he knew who happend to be there;
He wrote a farewell message and this is what it read:
"Oh, mother, I've broken your poor old heart, and tomorrow I'll be dead."
"If only we could meet again, how happy I would be,
For once I was a little boy who'd sit upon your knee;
But God he willed it not be and I had to face my foe,
Here's adieu unto you, mother dear, I'm afraid we'll meet no more."
Come all young men, take my advice before it is too late,
Don't be like Carolan Anderson who met with his sad fate;
Outside the city of Sydney where his mouldering bones they lay,
May the Lord have mercy on his soul on the great judgement day.
Collected in 1978 from Mrs. Bride Rose of Placentia Bay, NL, by Eric West, and deposited in the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA 79-1, ms p. 23, tape C3842).
Note: Although these events took place in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the ballad has only been found in Newfoundland.
~ Janet McNaughton, Canadian Journal For Traditional Music, 1984.
