American Old Time Song Lyrics: 12 Oh, Love, Will You Be Mine

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 12

Oh, Love, Will You Be Mine?
Copyright, 1886, by F. Harding.

I once heard the gallant knight errants of old
Would serenade their ladye loves in the cold.
So I thought I'll woo mine by the light of the star,
And I'll speculate ten cents and buy a guitar;
But the man at the junk shop had got none to sell,
So I purchased a banjo which did just as well
And I first skipped the dog, then sat on her back wall,
"Where I tuned up my banjo and started to squall.

Chorus.
Oh, love, will you be mine?
Oh, love, do not decline;
I'll be as true as the stars up above,
If you'll be my true-hearted, dear little love.

The hour it was late, and the night it was damp,
But my mind was made up and I started to vamp;
I sang her a very affectionate song
Although every harmony I played was wrong;
That my poor heart was bursting with love every day,
I explained in a most satisfactory way;
When, confound ray misfortune, it commenced to rain,
But I turned my coat collar and started again.-Chorus.

It rained for three hours, I got dripping wet through,
But I stayed there to prove my affection was true;
And I made that old banjo go pinkety ping,
I was so energetic I bursted a string;
But a neighbor, whose temper rose awfully quick,
Took a good, steady aim with a large, heavy brick;
I was knocked off my seat and I quickly came 'round.
Still I sang out of spite as I sat on the ground.-Chorus.

I was wet, I was hurt and my clothes a wreck,
And the fall from the wall had half broke my neck;
I walked home six miles while the rain it still poured,
And not a glimpse of my love had been my reward;
Next day I'd a letter from Ida to say,
She'd been in the country a fortnight to-day;
So she'd heard not a note of my exquisite strain,
But I'm blowed if I go serenading again.-Chorus.