The chords to The Bonny Boy are presented in the key of G. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who worried that the man she married was too young for her.
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And from that time, through wildest woe,
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Oh father dearest father, I think you did me wrong
For to go and get me married to one who is so young
He is only sixteen years and I am twenty-one
But the bonny boy is young though he’s growing
Oh daughter dearest daughter, I did not do you wrong
For to go and get you married to one that is so young
He will be a match for you when I am dead and gone
Oh the bonny boy is young but he is growing
Oh father dearest father, I’ll tell you what I’ll do
I’ll send my love to college for another year or two
And all around his college cap I’ll bind a ribbon blue
For to show the other girls that he’s married
A year it went by and I passed the college wall
And saw the young collegians a-playing at the ball
I spied him in among them the fairest of them all
Oh my bonny boy was young and still growing
At the early age of sixteen years he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen the father of a son
But at the age of eighteen o’er his grave the grass grew green
Cruel death put an end to his growing
I’ll make my love a shroud of the Holland brown
And whilst I am a-weaving it, the tears they will run down
For once I had a true love but now he’s lying low
And I’ll nurse his bonny boy while he’s growing
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Lyrics and Chords
The Bonny Boy Print Version
Oh father dearest father, I think you did me wrong
For to go and get me married to one who is so young
He is only sixteen years and I am twenty-one
But the bonny boy is young though he’s growing
Oh daughter dearest daughter, I did not do you wrong
For to go and get you married to one that is so young
He will be a match for you when I am dead and gone
Oh the bonny boy is young but he is growing
Oh father dearest father, I’ll tell you what I’ll do
I’ll send my love to college for another year or two
And all around his college cap I’ll bind a ribbon blue
For to show the other girls that he’s married
A year it went by and I passed the college wall
And saw the young collegians a-playing at the ball
I spied him in among them the fairest of them all
Oh my bonny boy was young and still growing
At the early age of sixteen years he was a married man
And at the age of seventeen the father of a son
But at the age of eighteen o’er his grave the grass grew green
Cruel death put an end to his growing
I’ll make my love a shroud of the Holland brown
And whilst I am a-weaving it, the tears they will run down
For once I had a true love but now he’s lying low
And I’ll nurse his bonny boy while he’s growing
Videos
Lyrics and Chords