Down in the Willow Gardens

Down in the willow gardens
Where me and my love did meet;
There we sat a-courting
My love dropped off to sleep.

I had a bottle of burglar’s wine
That my true love did not know.
And there I poisoned my own true love
Down under the banks below.

I drew my saber through her
Which was a bloody knife.
I threw her in the river,
Which was a dreadful sight.

My father always taught me
That money would set me free.
If I would murder that pretty little miss
Whose name was Rose Connally.

He’s sitting now at his own cabin door,
A-wiping his weeping eyes.
A-looking at his own dear son,
Upon the scaffold high.

My race is run beneath the sun
Though hell’s now waiting for me.
For I did murder that pretty little miss
Whose name was Rose Connally.

Instruction on how to play this song can be found in Wayne Erbsen’s book:Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus