Standard (EADGBE)
Intro
Im a maker of ballads right pretty
I write them right here in the street
You can buy them all over the city
yours for a penny a sheet
Im a word pecker out of the printers
out of the dens of Gin Lane
Ill write up a scene on a counter
- confessions and sins in the main, boys
confessions and sins in the main
Then youll find me in Madame Genevas
keeping the demons at bay
Theres nothing like gin for drowning them in
but theyll always be back
on a hanging day
on a hanging day
They come rattling over the cobbles
they sit on their coffins of black
Some are struck dumb, some gabble
top-heavy on brandy or sack
The pews are all full of fine fellows
and the hawker has set up her shop
As theyre turning them off at the gallows
Shell be selling right under the drop, boys
selling right under the drop
Then youll find me in Madame Genevas
keeping the demons at bay
Theres nothing like gin for drowning them in
but theyll always be back
on a hanging day
on a hanging day