Lyrics

Oh love is pleasing and love is teasing
And love is a pleasure when first it is new
But as it grows older my love is colder
And then fades away like the mountain dew.

I’ll kiss the old woman and hug the old man
Give Johnny a dollar and shake hands with Dan
Fight for his sister and do all I can - do all I can
Then I’ll walk out with my own Mary Ann.

And we kissed so sweet and comforting as we came to each other
We went arm in arm down the road like sister and brother
We went arm in arm down the road till we came to a stream
And we both sat down together to hear the nightingale sing.

A mother’s love is a blessing no matter where you go
Keep her while she’s living you’ll miss her when she goes
Love her as in childhood when feeble old and grey
But you’ll never miss your mothers love
‘Till she’s buried beneath the clay

For she was young and slender as gentle as the fawn
Her eyes they shone like diamonds bright o’er the stars of early dawn
A smile she had for everyone but her kisses were all for me
Entranced I gazed at Molly Bawn a-boating on Loch Ree

Far away in Australia soon will fate be kind
And I will be ready to answer at last the girl I left behind

Oh how I long for those bright days to come again once more
But come again they never will for now I’m sixty four!
But come again they never will for now I’m sixty four!