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I am a chimbley, a chimbley sweep
No bed to lie, no shoes to hold my feet
Upon the rooftops in dead of night
You'll hear me cry, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
I am an orphan, an orphan boy
I've known no love, I've seen no mother's joy
A dirty doorstep my cradle laid
My fortune's made, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
"O lonely urchin!" the widow cried,
"I've not been swept since the day my husband died."
Her cheeks are blushing, her legs laid bare
And shipwrecked there, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep
No bed to lie, no shoes to hold my feet
Upon the rooftops in dead of night
You'll hear me cry, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
I am an orphan, an orphan boy
I've known no love, I've seen no mother's joy
A dirty doorstep my cradle laid
My fortune's made, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
"O lonely urchin!" the widow cried,
"I've not been swept since the day my husband died."
Her cheeks are blushing, her legs laid bare
And shipwrecked there, I'll shake you from your sleep
To hear me weep
"Your day will come indeed
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep."
For I am a poor and a wretched boy
A chimbley, chimbley sweep
Lyrics submitted by sendthestars
The Chimbley Sweep Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think the lyric: "'Oh, lonely urchin!' the widow cried 'I've not been swept since the day my husband died'" is actually "'I've not been swived since the day my husband died.'"
It never sounded quite like "swept" to me and I thought that was a pretty weak euphemism from The Decemberists anyway. And then today a friend pointed out to me that "swived" actually rhymes with "cried" and "died" and the verb means "to copulate with" so... Yeah. I think that's actually the correct lyric.