For to see Mad Tom of Bedlam
Ten thousand miles I traveled
Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes
For to save her shoes from gravel
chorus:
Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys
Bedlam boys are bonny
For they all go bare and they live by the air
And they want no drink nor money.
I went down to Satan's kitchen
For to get me food one morning
And there I got souls piping hot
All on a spit a-turning.
From the hag and hungry goblin
That into rags would rend ye
All the sprites that stand by the naked man
In the book of moons, defend ye
My staff has murdered giants
And me bag a long knife carries
For to cut mince pies from children's thighs
And feed them to the faeries.
The spirits white as lightening
Would on my travels guide me
The stars would shake and the moon would quake
Whenever they espied me
And when that I'll be mutherin'
The Man in the Moon to a powder
His staff I'll break and his dog I'll shake
And there'll howl no demon louder