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