I have often heard it said
From my father and my mother
That going to a wedding
Was the making of another
Well if this be so
Then I'll go without a bidding
Oh it's kind providence
Won't you send me to a wedding

For it's oh dear me, how will it be
If I die an old maid in a garret

Oh now there's my sister Jean
She's not handsome or good lookin'
Scarcely sixteen
And a fella she was courtin'
Now she's twenty four
With a son and a daughter
Here am I, forty-five
And I've never had an offer

For it's oh dear me, how will it be
If I die an old maid in a garret

I can cook and I can sew
I can keep the house right tidy
Rise up in the morning
And get the breakfast ready
But there's nothing in this wide world
Would make me half so cheery
As a wee fat mannie
Who would call me his own dearie

For it's oh dear me, how will it be
If I die an old maid in a garret

Oh come landsman or come kinsman
Come tinker or come tailor
Come fiddler or come dancer
Come ploughman or come sailor
Come rich man, come poor man
Come fool or come witty
Come any man at all
Who would marry me for pity

For it's oh dear me, how will it be
If I die an old maid in a garret

Oh well I'm away home
For there's nobody heedin'
There's nobody heedin'
To poor Annie's pleadin'
And I'm away home
To me own wee bit garret
If I can't get a man
Then I'll surely get a parrot

For it's oh dear me, how will it be
If I die an old maid in a garret