For to see mad Tom of Bedlam
Ten thousand miles I travelled
Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes
For to save her shoes from gravel.
Still I sing "Bonny boys, bonny mad boys,
Bedlam boys are bonny",
For they all go bare and they live by the air
And they want no drink nor money.
I went down to Satan's kitchen
For to get me food one morning
And there I got souls piping hot
All on a spit a-turning.
My staff has murdered giants
And my bag a long knife carries
To cut mince pies from children's thighs
With which to feed the fairies.
My spirit's white as lightning
Would on my travels guide me
The moon would shake and the stars would quake
Whenever they espied me.
And when that I have murdered
The man in the moon to a powder
His staff I'll break and his doct I'll shake
and there howl no demon louder.
For to see mad Tom of Bedlam
Ten thousand years I travelled
Mad Maudlin goes on dirty toes
For to save her shoes from gravel.