Carol Anderson  

click on play button to hear Eugene Pittman singing this song

There‘s many a young man leaves his home, his mother to him do say,   
"Oh Carol dear son, please stay at home and do not go away."
Her boy so true to her breast she drew which filled her heart with grief,
It was on that day he sailed away to the land of the maple leaf.

He sailed out to the eastward from the westward of the shore,
He sailed out to Cape Breton Isle where the Atlantic seas do roar,
T’was little did he ever think as he left his home that day,
That the murdering of young Osborne would take his life away.

His money had not long been spent when his friends were but a few,
For three long days and three long nights he knew not what to do,
He called young Osborne to his room and struck him on the head,
He rustled through his pockets as he lay there on the bed.

T’was early the next morning he made his escape from town,
He hired to work in a lumbering camp he said his name was Brown,
The police were quickly notified, to find him without bail,
It was less than three weeks after he was locked in Sydney jail.

He called this young man to his room and this to him did say:
“Young man you're a stranger in this land and what brought you this way?”
"I am a British young man I'm known by one and all,
Carol Anderson is my name l belong to Montreal.”

The judge they tried to save him and very hard did try,
The jury found him guilty which meant that he must die,
He called this young man to his room and this to him did say,
“Young man for the murdering you must die on the twenty-fourth of May."

The day of his execution, t'was little did he fear,
He talked and joked with friends he knew who happened to be there,
He wrote a farewell message and this is what it read,
“Oh mother I've broken your poor old heart and tomorrow I'll be dead."

If only we could meet again, how happy l would be,
For once l was a little boy who’d sit upon your knee,
But God he willed it not to be and l had to face my foe,
Here's adieu unto you mother dear, I'm afraid we'll meet no more.

Come all young men take my advice before it is too late,
Don't be like Carol Anderson who met with his sad fate,
Outside the city of Sydney where his mouldering bones they lay,
May the Lord have mercy on his soul on that great judgement day.