Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago

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Lady Dysie / Lady Eliza / Lady Diamond (Child No. 269) - Sung by Sylvia Barnes as part of Góilín Singers Club, at The Ferryman, Dublin, Ireland on October 11, 1996. Recorded by Luke Cheevers. She learned the song from the singing of Ewan MacColl.

Song transcription to becorrected:

There was a king and a noble king,
A king o' muckle fame,
And he had an only dochter dear,
Lady Diamond was her name.

He had a servant, a kitchie boy,
A lad o' muckle scorn,
And she loved him lang and she loved him aye
Till the grass o'er-grew the corn.

When twenty weeks were gene and past,
Then she began to greet;
For her petticoat grew short before
And her stays they wadnae meet.

Then it fell oot on a winter's nicht,
The king could get nae rest;
And he has gene by his dochter's bower
Just like a wandering ghaist.

He's led her by the milk-white hand
Tae the bed-chamber within;
What ails ye, lass, that ye look sae wan,
And your apron winna pin?

O father dear, upbraid me not,
Dinna tak' free me my joy;
For I hae forsaken your high-born lords
Tae marry your kitchie boy.

Gae ca' to me my merry men a',
By thirty and by three;
Gae fetch to me yon kitchie boy,
We'll kill him secretly.

There wasnae ae sound to be heard
No' another word was said,
Till they hae got him fast and sure
Between twa feather beds.

They've cut the hairt oot o' his white breast,
Put it in a gowden bowl;
And they've gi'en it to his lady dear
That she might her love behold.

O come to me, my honey, my hairt,
O come to me, my joy;
O come to my, my honey, my hairt,
My ain dear kitchie boy.

She's ta'en the heart o' her ain true love,
And she grat baith lang and sair;
Till the blood was washed by her ain saut tears
And at last she breathed nae mair.

O where were ye, my good men a'
That took baith meat and fee,
That ye didnae hold my cruel hand
And keep his blood free me?

For gane is a' my heart's delight,
And gane frae me my joy,
For my bonnie Diamond she is deid
For the love o' a kitchie boy.