Banks of the Roses On the banks of the roses, my love and I sat down And I took out my violin to play my love a tune In the middle of the tune, O she sighed and she said O Johnny, lovely Johnny, Would you leave me O when I was a young man, I heard my father say That he'd rather see me dead and buried in the clay Sooner than be married to any runaway By the lovely sweet banks of the roses O then I am no runaway and soon I'll let them know I can take a good glass or leave it alone And the man that doesn't like me, he can keep his daughter home And young Johnny will go roving with another And if ever I get married, twill be in the month of May When the leaves they are green and the meadows they are gay And I and my true love can sit and sport and play On the lovely sweet banks of the roses