Come Bachelors and married Men
and listen to 'me song
AndI shall tell you plainly then
the injury and wrong
That constantly I be sustained
through my unhappy life
The wich that brought me to great fame
by my unquiet wife
She never lins' her bawling
her tongue it is so loud
for always she'll be railing
and will not be controlled
For she the breeches still will wear
although it breeds my strife
If I were now a bachelor
I'd never have a wife
Sometimes i go in the morning
about 'me daily work
Me' wife she will be snorting
and in her bed she'll lurk
Until the chimes do go at eight,
then she'll begin to wake
Her morning's draught, well-spiced' straight
to clear her eyes she'll take
(INTERLUDE)
Then she goes forth a-gossiping
amongst her own comrades
And then she falls a-boozing
with all her merry blades
When I come home from me' labor hard
then she'll begin to scold
And calls me rogue, without regard
which makes my heart full cold
When I come into my house,
thinking to take my rest
Then she'll begin to me abuse
before she did but jest
With "Out, you rascal! you have been
abroad to meet your whore!"
Then she takes up a cudgel's end,
and breaks my head full sore
Thus am I now tormented still
with my most cruel wife
All through her wicked tongue so ill
I'm weary of me' life
I know not truly what to do
nor how me' self to mend
This lingering life doth breed my woe
I would it were at an end.
(OUTRO)