I have often heard it said from my father and my mother That going to a wedding was the making of another Well if this be so, then I'll go without a bidding Oh it's kind providence won't you send me to a wedding
For it's oh dear me, how will it be, if I die an old maid in a garret
Oh now there's my sister Jean, she's not handsome or good lookin' Scarcely sixteen and a fella she was courtin' Now she's twenty four with a son and a daughter Here am I, forty-five, and I've never had an offer
For it's oh dear me, how will it be, if I die an old maid in a garret
I can cook and I can sew, I can keep the house right tidy Rise up in the morning and get the breakfast ready But there's nothing in this wide world would make me half so cheery As a wee fat mannie who would call me his own dearie
For it's oh dear me, how will it be, if I die an old maid in a garret
Oh come landsman or come kinsman, come tinker or come tailor Come fiddler or come dancer, come ploughman or come sailor Come rich man, come poor man, come fool or come witty Come any man at all who would marry me for pity
For it's oh dear me, how will it be, if I die an old maid in a garret
Oh well I'm away home for there's nobody heedin' There's nobody heedin' to poor Annie's pleadin' And I'm away home to me own wee bit garret If I can't get a man then I'll surely get a parrot
For it's oh dear me, how will it be, if I die an old maid in a garret