The mad butcher

This is an odd music-hall song:. "Mary Jane you don't know her, but - ha"

THE MAD BUTCHER


Once I was happy and gay
But now I'm dreadfully changed
And all my acquaintances say
That I am insane and deranged
I once was as red as my beef
But now I'm as white as my veal
My senses have flown thro' my grief
And my heart is as hard as my steel.

Chorus: I'm the mad butcher; I'm the mad butcher
I'm the mad butcher; they say I'm insane
I'm the mad butcher; I'm the mad butcher
Brought to this state all thro' false Mary Jane.

Mary Jane you don't know her, but - ha
The thought of her now makes me start
She shone on my path like a star
But she's stolen my pluck and my heart
Each day she'd call in at the shop
When my heart ‘gainst my ribs would go thump
When she asked me to weigh her a chop
And some suet, a jolly good lump.

Chorus:

She smiled at me one afternoon
I grew hot and cold by degrees
I told her my love very soon
In the sawdust I knelt on my knees
But she spurned me and then what was more
I know you will say it was too bad
She married the tailor next door
And ever since then I've been mad.

Chorus:

One day I'd a furious shock
I hacked and I chopped up the meat
At one blow I severed the block
And I pitched the sheep's head in the street
By turns I now laugh and then cry
But somehow I've lost all my trade
I cry, buy, buy, the buy, buy, buy, buy
But my customers all seem afraid.

Chorus:

 Written by Henri Clark (1840-1905)