Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman

[Verse 1]
Rise for the hangman
His pleasure is that you should rise
He's the judge and the jury
At the jester's assize

[Verse 2]
Poor Will on the gallows tree
Never a cruel word did say
Oh that a young man
Should be treated this way

[Chorus]
Run to me mother of anyone's child
And tell me the revelry planned
Judges and barristers, clerks at the law
His show is the best in the land
Here's a health to the jolly hangman
He'll hang you the best that he can
Here's a health to the jolly

[Verse 3]
No purse for a champion
No true love come over the stile
The debt of a poor man
He'll pay in awhile

[Verse 4]
Kind ladies, kind gentlemen
Born of a sorry degree
Will you laugh with the hangman
When he comes for his fee?

[Chorus]
Run to me mother of anyone's child
And tell me the revelry planned
Judges and barristers, clerks at the law
His show is the best in the land
Here's a health to the jolly hangman
He'll hang you the best that he can
Here's a health to the jolly

[Verse 5]
Rise for the hangman
His pleasure is that you should rise
He's the judge and the jury
At the jester's assize