Part Xi (the Hanging Song)
Fairport Convention

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)


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Lyrics by Fairport Convention

  (come All Ye) Rolling Minstrels   A Sailor's Life   A Surfeit of Lampreys [Instrumental]   After Hallowe'en   After Halloween   Angel Delight   Autopsy   Ballad of Easy Rider   Big William   Bird On A Wire   Bonny Black Hare   Book Song   Both Sides Now   Bring 'em Down   Bring 'em Down   Cajun Woman   Cajun Woman [*]   Chelsea Morning   Claudy Banks   Close The Door Lightly When You Go   Come All Ye   Crazy Man Michael   Danny Boy   Dark Eyed Molly   Dawn   Decameron   Dirty Linen   Doctor Of Physick   Dream Song   Eastern Rain   Farewell Farewell   Farewell, Farewell   Farewell, Farewell [Fairport Rehearsal Tape]   Farewell, Farewell [Fairport Rehearsal Tape]   Flowers of the Forest   Fotheringay   From Galway to Graceland   Genesis Hall   I Don't Know Where I Stand   I Heard It Through the Grapevine   I Heard It Through the Grapevine [Live]   I Still Miss Someone   I'll Keep It With Mine   I'm Already There   If Stomp   Iron Lion   It'll Take A Long Time   It's Alright Ma, It's Only Witchcraft   Jack O'diamonds   Jack O'rion   Jack O'diamonds   Jack O'rion   John Barleycorn   John Barleycorn [DVD]   John the Gun   Lady Of Pleasure   Let It Go   Like an Old Fashioned Waltz   London Danny   London River   Lord Marlborough   Matty Groves   Meet On The Ledge   Million Dollar Bash   Mr Lacey   Night-time Girl   No Man's Land   No Man's Land   Nottamun Town   Nottamun Town [*]   Nottamun Town [BBC Session]   Now Be Thankful   Now Be Thankful [BBC Sounds of the 70s]   Now Be Thankful [BBC Sounds of the 70s]   Now Be Thankful [Mono Version]   Now Be Thankful [Version]   One More Chance   One More Chance [Studio Version]   One Sure Thing   Over The Next Hill   Part I   Part Ii   Part Iv (the Sailor's Alphabet)   Part Iv (the Sailor's Alphabet)   Part Ix   Part V (john Lee)   Part Vi (breakfast In Mayfair)   Part Vii   Part Viii   Part X   Percy's Song   Pleasure And Pain   Polly On The Shore   Possibly Parsons Green   Red & Gold   Red And Gold   Restless   Reynard The Fox   Reynard the Fox [TV Performance]   Reynard the Fox [TV Performance]   Reynardine   Rising For The Moon   Rising for the Moon [BBC Radio Top Gear Session]   Rising for the Moon [BBC Radio Top Gear Session]   Rising for the Moon [BBC Session]   Rosie   She Moves Through The Fair   She Moves Through the Fair [Troubador, Los Angeles...   Si Tu Dois Partir   Sickness And Diseases   Sir Patrick Spens   Sir William Gower   Sloth   Sloth [Fillmore West]   Sloth [Live]   Solo   Some Sweet Day   Some Sweet Day [*]   Something You Got   Something You Got [*]   Spanish Main   Stranger To Himself   Sun Shade   Tale In Hard Time   Tam Lin   The Ballad Of Easy Rider   The Ballad of Easy Rider [*]   The Banks Of Sweet Primroses   The Bonny Black Hare   The Bonny Bunch Of Roses   The Deserter   The Flowers Of The Forest   The Hexhamshire Lass   The Hiring Fair   The Journeyman's Grace   The Journeyman's Grace   The Lobster   The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood   The Summer Before The War   The Widow Of Westmorland's Daughter   The Widow Of Westmorland's Daughter   Three Drunken Maidens   Time Will Show The Wiser   To Althea From Prison   Tokyo [Instrumental]   Walk Awhile   What Is True?   White Dress   Who knows where the time goes   Who Knows Where The Time Goes?   Who Knows Where the Time Goes? [BBC Radio]   Who Knows Where the Time Goes? [BBC Radio]   Who Knows Where the Time Goes? [Version]   Wizard Of The Worldly Game   Ye Mariners All   You're Gonna Need My Help

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