Well my father's a merchant with a house on the Brae
And he was off for his dealings on my sixteenth birthday
So I followed the road out through the gold fields
And I there met a man so tall and well-heeled.
John Smith was his name and he'd come from the sea
With his piercing blue eyes and dressed in his finery
But he'd tired of those winds and he'd tired of those sails
He'd come home to the islands to hide from the gales
So we talked through the night of the places he'd seen
And his voice conjured visions in this maid of sixteen
Of Santa Cruz ports and Iberian seas
He said all Italy's statues can't compare to me.

Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man
To rule like a lord over half this island
When my John did court me I and I took his hand
Through the hole in the stone that was our wedding band

When my father came home and he found me gone
Well, his rage it did smolder his pride it was stung
there was much to be gained through a marriage to me
To some son of a lawyer or some fleet in the sea
But he bide his time and he listened for word
Of who my dear John was no body had heard
Till a swag from the pier with a grudge to avenge
Recognized John Gow from the dread ship Revenge.
John took to the sea the very next day
His ship ran aground on the calf of Eday
They took him to London and found him guilty
Of a great many murders and dread piracy.

Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man
To rule like a lord over half this island
When my John did court me and I took his hand
Through the hole in the stone that was our band

I made my way south with a promise to break
I crossed over the Firth with my life in my wake.
The islands and highlands they faded from view
Those gray towns of England I made my way through
On the banks of the Themes, there he waited for me
In his tar and his feathers and hung from his tree
They say he had taken a great while to die
I looked at his gray face and I thought I knew why
I watched as his hand swung on over my head
All blackened and burnt and duller than lead
I reached out my hand he swung away like a bell
and touched his cold fingers and said my farewell:

“As I took your hand through the stone on that night
With you as my lover, with me as your wife
This touch of our flesh, may it grant us release
To find us both us lonely, to find us both peace.”

Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man
To rule like a lord over half this island
When my John did court me and I took his hand
Through the hole in the stone that was our wedding band