On the road to Fairfax County
I spied a highwayman
He wanted all my money
My heart beat like a drum

I gave him all my money
And sweet he smiled at me
His beauty I took pity
Beneath a black oak tree.

We kissed but for an hour
The sun was newly warm
The clouds were as the flowers
That bloom but for a morn

He gave back all my money
And bowed most gallantly
He promised for to meet me
That night beneath the tree

We'd flee to some far island
And there we would be wed
And freely we would live there
With no price upon his head

That night I vent to meet him
With my inheritance
He kissed ae 'neath the half moon
And joyful we did dance

O love betrays all secrets
It whispers in the breeze
The sheriff he did follow
With all his deputies

Like hounds rushing to slaughter
The fox whose luck is run
He stood erect and cursed them
"Goddamn you everyone!"

They seized him in a fury
Am heeding not my plea
They hung him from the oak tree
Where he made love to me

O once I loved an outlaw
He came and stole my heart
O how I count the hours
Since we were torn apart

David Massengill © 1980. Boweer Wowser Music