Fanny Blair
Lyrics by Claire Vine
Come all you young fellows wherever that you be
Beware of false witness and sad perjury
For by a young female I’m wounded full soon
And you see I’m cut down in the height of my bloom
'Twas last Monday morning I lay in my bed
A young man came to me and unto me said
“Rise up henry higgins and flee you elsewhere
For they’re bound out against you on the word of Fanny Blair”
Fanny Blair is a girl of eleven years old
And though I were dying the truth must be told
It’s I never had dealings with that girl in my time
But now I must die for another man’s crime
Well the trial was on and Squire Vernon was there
And onto the table they lifted Fanny Blair
Well the lies she came out with I’m ashamed to tell
But the judge spoke up quickly saying, “You’ve told us it well”
When the people all heard that young Higgins was to die
They rose up against her with a murmuring cry
“We’ll catch her and crop her, she’s a perjuring young whore
Young Henry is innocent, of that we’re all sure”
Just one thing last request before I meet my doom
Don’t bury me in a prison yard so far from my home
Lay my body to rest in the sweet Branfield mould
And I pray the Lord pardon that little girl’s soul
Fanny Blair was a young girl of eleven years old
We find here one version of a tale often told
Remember her story ask why would she feign this lie
She was but a young girl who bore victim to a crime
