Fairport Convention - Part Xi The Hanging Song Lyrics

Lyrics Directory >> F >> Fairport Convention Singer Lyrics >> Part Xi The Hanging Song Song Lyrics

Artist: Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention Author

Song Title:	Part Xi The Hanging Song
Visits:	751

Print Version

Wake up John, it's time to go Come along John and don't be slow
Come along John, don't be slow Wake up John, it's time to go
Wake up John, it's time to go

A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
Marching in the morning down a path I've lately seen
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?

The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
And all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law

(Chorus)
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard

A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand

And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
"My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow," says he
A strap is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead

(Chorus)

There he whispers to me "Have you anything to say?"
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer "Drop away"
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own

They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
"The rain has warped the timbers," I hear the hangman say
"It's funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday"

"All is mended now," they say, "your ordeal's nearly over
Your life's as good as ended," but I hear their voices waver
Once more the ?board is shaked? and again I hang in limbo
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe

(Chorus)

They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still ties
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
It seems to work without me, "Will it kill me now?" I think

"Please, I'm tired of living and I really want to die"
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
"Lee, I'm truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine"
He drew the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time

My life was spared that morning 'cos it wasn't theirs to take
Three's the ?boat? the law requires, a man could feel the stake

(Repeat chorus

Part Xi The Hanging Song Lyrics at Lyricstrue

E-Mail, IM, Text :
Websites & Blogs :
Forums :


Other Fairport Convention song Lyrics
I Dont Know Where I Stand "Funny day, looking for laughter and finding it there Sunny day, braiding white flowers and leaves in my hair Picked up a pencil and wrote 'I love you' in my finest hand Wanted to send it but I don't know where I stand..."	Percys Song "Bad news, bad news, come to me where I sleep" Turn, turn, turn again "Say, one of your friends is in trouble deep" Turn, turn, to the rain and the wind..."
Time Will Show the Wiser "My mind keeps on telling me that this is no good And my heart is aching, that tells me I should But only time will show the wiser I've fallen in love with a girl that's not mine..."	If (Stomp) "If I were rich enough To make you need me as much as I need you If I could pitch enough You'd realise what a little country bread can do..."
Decameron "She doesn't see the day to day No colours where the children play She doesn't see the things she's sown White crosses painted on the door..."	Jack ODiamonds "Jack O'Diamonds, on the move Jack O'Diamonds, one-eyed knave On the move, hits the street Bumps his head, on the ground..."
Chelsea Morning "Woke up big this Chelsea morning and the first thing that I heard Was a song outside my window And the traffic wrote the words It came ringing up like Christmas bells..."	Sun Shade "Dying's not easy today Trying but can't get away Feel just the almost touch of her hand and the trees in her hair ?Lies float? the sun, she saw only me in the sky..."