The Foggy Dew

Oh, when I was a bachelor early and young
I followed the weaving trade
All the harm that ever I done
Was in courtin' a fair young maid
I courted her in the summertime
And all through the winter too
And the only thing I ever did wrong
Was keep her from the foggy dew

Well, I got that tired of living alone
I says to her one day
"I've a nice little cod in my old shack
Where you could safely lay
You'll be all right in the summertime
And all through the winter, too
You'll be snug and warm and you'll take no harm
All out of the foggy dew."

"Well, I don't think much to your old shack
As I will lonely be
With only your old Cyprus cat
For to keep me company
With crickets chirping in the hearth (?)
But whatever can they do
When the night turns raw and the fire won't draw
To keep me from the foggy dew?"

One night she come to my bedside
When I lay fast asleep
She laid her head down on my breast
And she started in to weep
She wept, she sighed, she well near died
She cries, "What shall I do?
For this night I'm resolved to stay with you
Without of the foggy dew."

"Oh lie down there, you silly young girl
And wipe away those tears."
Then I hauled her shift up over her head
And I wrapped it round her ears
We were all right in the summertime
And all through the winter, too
But I held her tight that livelong night
To keep her from the foggy dew

"Oh lie down there, you silly young girl
And don't you be afraid
If you want to stay with me
You have to learn your trade."
She learned all through the summertime
And all through the winter, too
And truth to tell, she learned that well
She saved us from the foggy dew

One night I laid there, good as gold
When she starts unto me
Says, "I've got a pain in below my back
Where no pain ought to be
I was all right in the summertime
And all through the winter, too
But I take some ill or a kind of a chill
On account of the foggy dew."

That night she started to moan and cry
Says I, "What's up with you?"
Says she, "I never should have been this way
If it haven't been for you."
I put my boots and my trousers on
And I ran for my neighbour, too
Do what we could, we couldn't do no good
And she died in the foggy dew

I'm a bachelor now, and I live with my son
And we work at the weaving trade
Each time I look in his eyes, I see
The eyes of that fair young maid
Reminding me of the summertime
And of the winter, too
And of the many times I rolled in her arms
All over the foggy dew