Wake up John, it`s time to go Come along John and don`t be slow
Come along John, don`t be slow Wake up John, it`s time to go
Wake up John, it`s time to go
A priest joins the procession just to help me kneel
With a warder at my elbow and another at my heel
Marching in the morning down a path I`ve lately seen
I was sleeping in this garden, am I still within my dream?
The echo of my heartbeat is the beating of a drum
And all the earth is singing with life`s sweet hum
We filed in solemn silence, shuffled through a door
The place where life is taken for the letter of the law
(Chorus)
Shake the holy water, summon up the guard
Dying`s very easy, waiting`s very hard
A rope was hanging from the roof, a sight which puzzles me
I thought a gibbet and a guard would make a gallows tree
But now all is revealed, stamped there is the command
My feet are on the trapdoor with a rope around my hand
And now the executioner is shaking hands with me
`My duty I must carry out, you poor fellow,` says he
A strap is tied around my feet and a bag upon my head
And then the noose which separates the living from the dead
(Chorus)
There he whispers to me `Have you anything to say?`
My mouth is dry, my throat is tight, I answer `Drop away`
Silence now surrounds me, my heart is beating on
The trapdoor hardly moves at all, my life is still my own
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still bound
While a carpenter is called for and an explanation found
`The rain has warped the timbers,` I hear the hangman say
`It`s funny but it worked well, I tried it yesterday`
`All is mended now,` they say, `your ordeal`s nearly over
Your life`s as good as ended,` but I hear their voices waver
Once more the ?board is shaked? and again I hang in limbo
While the guards jump on the trapdoor and my body stands on tip-toe
(Chorus)
They stand me in a corner with my hands and feet still ties
A warder holds onto the noose, the trapdoor opens wide
Is it magic or coincidence that keeps me on the brink?
It seems to work without me, `Will it kill me now?` I think
`Please, I`m tired of living and I really want to die`
I was taken to the scaffold and I heard the hangman cry
`Lee, I`m truly sorry, forgive these hands of mine`
He drew the bolt and I felt the jolt the third and final time
My life was spared that morning `cos it wasn`t theirs to take
Three`s the ?boat? the law requires, a man could feel the stake