wake up john (hanging song)

wake up john

it's time to go

come along john

don't be slow

wake up john

it's time to go

a priest joins the procession just to help me kneel

with a warder at my elbow and another at my heel

marching in the morning down a path i've lately seen

i was sleeping in this garden

am i still within my dream?

the echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum

and all the earth is singing with life's sweet hum

we filed in solemn silence

shuffled through a door

the place where life is taken for the letter of the law

shake the holy water

summon up the guard

dying's very easy

waiting's very hard

a rope was hanging from the roof

a sight which puzzles me

i thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree

but now all is revealed

standing there is just a man

my feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand

and now the executioner is shaking hands with me

my duty i must carry out