Spinning Jenny

 

When times were hard old Reg Malone

Sent his daughters out to work

And they all went out diligently

Not being ones to shirk

Maria went to Hagenbach’s

And helped to bake the bread

While Jenny went to Albion Mills

To weave the worsted thread

 

She worked the uncombed worsted yarn

As swift and skilled as any

And those who knew her said of her

There goes spinning Jenny

 

The spinning room was fearsome hot

And noisy as Bedlam some folk said

And Jenny worked all the hours she could

With secret dreams of being wed

To the handsome boy just down the road

Or the teacher at the school

She twisted twine and counted time

On the bobbin and the spool

 

She worked the uncombed worsted yarn

Her suitors there were many

And those who knew her said of her

There goes spinning Jenny

 

The days were long the hours hard

Amongst the clang and clatter

And when the time came to catch your breath

The women would gather and natter

She set her sights on greater heights

And wooed the Irish foreman Bob

Who’d seen her when she first went there

And offered her the job

 

She worked the uncombed worsted yarn

And earned a pretty penny

And those who knew her said of her

There goes spinning Jenny

 

The two eloped to Gretna Green

And married just for love

She brought her own wealth to the game

As everyone knew she would

She worked the uncombed worsted yarn

They moved away to KiIkenny

And those who knew her said of her

There goes spinning Jenny

 

And those who waved the pair away

Said there goes spinning Jenny