Black Is the Colour
Scottish by descent — hence the Clyde — and Appalachian by adoption: Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles took it down in 1916 from Mrs Lizzie Roberts.
Am F G Am
Black is the colour of my true love's hair.
F G E7
Her lips are like some roses fair.
F G E7
She's the sweetest smile and the gentlest hands.
F G Am
I love the ground where on she stands.
Am F G Am
I love my love - and well she knows.
F G E7
I love the ground where on she goes.
F G E7
I wish the day it soon would come
F G Am
When she and I could be as one.
Am F G Am
I go to the Clyde and mourn and weep
F G E7
For satisfied I never can be.
F G E7
I write her a letter, just a few short lines
F G Am
And owe death a thousand times.
Am F G Am
Black is the colour of my true love's hair.
F G E7
Her lips are like red roses fair.
F G E7
She's the sweetest smile and the gentlest hands.
F G Am
I love the ground where on she stands.