Madame's Genevas

I'm a maker of ballads right pretty

I write them right here in the street

You can buy them all over the city

yours for a penny a sheet

I'm a word pecker out of the printers

all the dens of a jain lain

I'll write up a scene on a counter

confessions and sins in the main, boys

confessions and sins in the main

Then you'll find me in Madame Geneva's

keeping the demons at bay

There's nothing like gin for drowning them in

but they'll always be back on a hanging day

They come rattling over the cobbles

they sit on their coffins of black

Some are struck dumb, some gabble

top-heavy on brandy or sack

The pews are all full of fine fellows

and the hawker has set up her shop

As they're turning them off at the gallows

she'll be selling right under the drop, boys

selling right under the drop

Then you'll find me in Madame Geneva's

keeping the demons at bay

There's nothing like gin for drowning them in

but they'll always be back on a hanging day