The Dispute at the Crossroads / Columba Ward's / Siuns Reel - Altan

I went down to the crosroads Fell down on my knees Down to the crossroads Fell down on my knees I said I'm beggin' for mercy won't you take me If you please I went down to the crossroads Tried to beg a ride I went down to the crossroads Tried to beg a ride Nobody seemed to know me Everybody passed me by Take a ride Going down toward Rosedale Took Loretta by my side Going down to Rosedale Took Loretta by my side Can still buy a house there On the riverside One more time You can run, you can run Tell all my friends I'll be by You can run, you can run Tell my friends I'll be by And I'll be stayin' in the crossroads I believe I'm sinkin' down

The trees, they grow high, and the leaves, they do grow green Many is the time my true love I've seen Many an hour I watched him all alone He's young but he's daily growing Father, dear father, you've done me great wrong You have married me to a boy who is too young I am twice twelve and he is but fourteen He's young but he's daily growing Daughter, dear daughter, I've done you no wrong I have married you to a great lord's son And he will be a man for you when I am dead and gone He's young but he's daily growing Father, dear father, if you see fit We'll send him to college for another year yet I'll tie a blue ribbon all around his head To let the maidens know that he is married One day I was looking over my father's castle wall I spied all the boys playing with a ball And my own true love, he was the flower of them all He's young but he's daily growing And so early in the morning at the dawning of the day They went into a hayfield for to have some sport and play And what they did there she never would declare But she never more complained of his growing At the age of fourteen he was a married man At the age of fifteen, the father of my son At the age of sixteen, his grave, it was green And death had put an end to his growing I'll buy my love some flannel, I'll make my love a shroud And every stitch I put in it, the tears, they'll pour down Amd every stitch I put in it, how the tears, they will flow Cruel fate has put an end to his growing

I wish my love was a red, red rose growing in yon garden fair And I to be the gardener, of her I would take care There's not a month throughout the year, that my love I'd renew I'd garnish her with flowers fine, sweet William, Thyme and Rue I wish I was a butterfly, I'd light on my love's breast And if I was a blue cuckoo, I'd sing my love to rest And if I was a nightingale, I'd sing the daylight clear I'd sit and sing for you, Molly, for once I loved you dear I wish I was in Dublin town and seated on the grass In my right hand, a jug of punch, and on my knee, a lass I'd call for liquor freely and I'd pay before I'd go I'd roll my Molly in my arms, let the wind blow high or low

One pleasant summer's morning when all the flowers were springing O Nature was adorning and the wee birds sweetly singing O I met my love near Banbridge Town, my charming blue-eyed Sally O She's the queen of the County Down, the flower of Magherally O With admiration I did gaze upon this blue-eyed maiden O Adam wasn't half so much pleased when he met Eve in Eden O Her skin was like the lily white that grows in yonder valley O She's my queen and my heart's delight, the flower of Magherally O Her yellow hair in ringlets clung, her shoes were Spanish leather O Her bonnet with blue ribbons strung, her scarlet cap and feather O Like Venus bright she did appear, my charming blue-eyed Sally O She's the girl that I love dear, the flower of Magherally O I hope the day will surely come when we'll join hands together O 'Tis then I'll bring my darling home in spite of wind or weather O And let them all say what they will and let them reel and rally O For I shall wed the girl I love, the flower of Magherally O