Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
- or however you spell it!!

Click to stop and start the music

The campfire leader sings/chants the words in bold type and the rest join in the lines in italics: the story is gruesome (and therefore very popular) and gives lots of opportunities for "hamming it up."

There was an old woman who lived in a wood
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
There was an old woman who lived in a wood
Down by the River Wye - er

She lived with a little old man
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
Who knocked her about with a frying-pan
Down by the River Wye - er

She took a penknife three feet long
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
With a blade that was sharp and very strong
Down by the River Wye - er

She stuck it into the old man's head
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
Until she was sure he was very dead
Down by the River Wye - er

She took the knife and threw it away
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
And buried her husband the very next day
Down by the River Wye-er

But somebody saw her and told the Law
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
And they came a-knocking at her door
Down by the River Wye-er

"Are you the woman" the policeman said,
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
"Who's gone and killed her husband dead?"
Down by the River Wye-er

"Yes I'm that woman!" the old woman cried
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
"I stabbed me old man till he died!"
Down by the River Wye-er

The judge and the jury they put her away
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
And they strung her up the very next day
Down by the River Wye-er

The moral of this story you've just been taught
Weel-yer-weel-yer-wy-er
If you must kill your husband, don't get caught
Down by the River Wye - er