F   C   G C

[Verse]
F  C         Am     Dm            F
As I was walking by yonder church wall
      C               Am          Dm             F
I saw four-and-twenty young men a-playing at the ball
  C                     Am        Dm                    F
I asked for my own true love, but they wouldn't let him come
G        Am       Dm  N.C.            Am       F
For they said the boy was young but a-growing

[Verse]
C                Am         Dm              F
Father, dear father, you've done to me much wrong
       C                 Am       Dm             F
You've tied me to a boy, when you know he is too young
    C                   Am  Dm           F
But he will make a Lord for you to wait upon
G     Am   Dm  N.C.               Am
And a lady you will be while he's growing

[Verse]
F     C               Am      Dm          F
We'll send him to college for one year or two
    C              Am  Dm              F
And maybe in time, the boy will do for you
     C                Am      Dm             F
I'll buy you white ribbons to tie around his waist
G      Am      Dm     N.C.           Am
For to let the ladies know that he's married

[Instrumental]
F   C   G C
F   C   G F G
F   C   G C
F   C   G F

[Verse]
    C                       Am      Dm                  F
The trees they do grow high and the leaves they do grow green
    C                          Am         Dm             F
The day is passed and gone, my love, that you and I have seen
     C                  Am          Dm          F
It's on a cold winter's night, that I must lie alone
G       Am    Dm  N.C.           Am       F
For the bonny boy is young but a-growing

[Verse]
C                Am    Dm               F
At the age of sixteen, he was a married man
    C                  Am        Dm          F
And at the age of seventeen, the father to a son
    C                 Am        Dm                F
And at the age of eighteen, his grave it did grow green
G     Am        Dm  N.C.          Am
Cruel death had put an end to his growing

[Outro]
F   C   G C
F   C   G F G
F   C   G C
F   C   G C   G C