judy collins
lily of the valley
Lily of the Valley Lily of the Valley Lily of the Valley  They called her Lily of the Valley And she lived beside the river The youngest of her sisters And the prettiest of them all She was courted by the men in town She could have married anyone The one she made her husband Was the handsomest of all.  They were married in a chapel Lily bore him seven children And every night he put her down And made her feel ashamed.   He took the face she used to wear And put a look of sorrow there The more he made her suffer The more she felt to blame  No more tears Lily Don't cry anymore Tears of yours won't fall another time. Don't cry Lilly  We know how you've tried Fighting for your life was not a crime.  One night Lily turned to him Before he raised his hand to her One more time she said, and not again He laughed and threw another punch The blow knocked Lily to the floor, Somehow she grabbed the kitchen knife And stabbed her husband dead.   The jury they decided it was murder in the first degree They said she had provoked him With her wild and wicked talk. They hanged her by the river Where so many times she wandered And left her children motherless In sorrow and in shock.  No more tears Lily Don't cry anymore Tears of yours won't fall another time. Don't cry Lilly We know how you've tried Fighting for your life was not a crime.  A soldier in a uniform is meant to kill the enemy But Lilly in her own defense was framed to take the fall Her children watched their father beat their mother all too often The battlefields of families are the saddest of them all.   The willow weeps for Lily As its branches touch the water The wind is crying, "Lily"  As it sighs along the shore The river's singing "Lily -- We all know that you are innocent" You were promised marriage But you had to fight a war.  No more tears Lily Don't cry any more Tears of yours won't fall another time. Don't cry Lily We know how you tried Fighting for your life was not a crime.  Lily of the Valley Lily of the Valley Lily of the Valley