Version One
I am a young man from the town of Kiandra
I married a young woman to comfort my home
She goes out and she leaves me and truly deceives me
She leaves me with a baby that's none o' me own
Oh dear, I rue the day ever I married
How I wish I was single again
With this weeping and wailing and rocking the cradle
And rocking the baby that's none o' me own
While I'm at work, my wife's on the rantan
On the rantan with some other young man
She goes out and she leaves me and truly deceives me
And leaves me with a baby that's none o' me own
Now all you young men with a fancy to marry
Be sure you leave those flash gals alone
Or by the Lord Harry, if one you should marry
They'll leave you with a baby that's none o' your own
Version Two
On a bright summer's evening I chanced to go roving
Down by the clear river I rollicked along
I heard an old man making sad lamentation
He was rocking the cradle and the child not his own
Cho: Hi ho, hi ho, my laddie lie aisy
For perhaps your own daddy might never be known
I'm sitting and sighing and rocking the cradle
And nursin' the baby that's none of my own
When first that I married your inconstant mother
I thought myself lucky to be blessed with a wife
But for my misfortune, sure I was mistaken
She's proved both a curse and a plague on my life
She goes out every night to a ball or a party
And leaves me here rockin' he cradle alone
The innocent laddie he calls me his daddy
But little he knows that he's none of my own
Now come all ye young men that's inclined to get married
Take my advice and let the women alone
For by the Lord Harry, if ever you marry
They'll leave you with a baby that's none of your own
(Or "and swear it's your own")