Frank Turner - Jinny Bingham's Ghost lyrics

If you're heading down to Camden Town
Be sure to raise a toast
To the patron saint of the waifs and strays
To Jinny Bingham's ghost

Once she was a fresh-faced lass
From Kentish Town she came
Her people, they were peddlers
Jinny Bingham was her name
With her husband Gypsy George a Camden
Coach house they did keep
Till they hung him by his neck
From Tyburn Tree for stealing sheep
It broke her heart to lose her love
When she was just a child
So a man named Darby took the
Hand of Jinny meek and mild
He was a drinker, not a thinker
Daily brought his wife to tears
Till one Camden winter morning
Darby simply disappeared

If you're heading down to Camden Town
Be sure to raise a toast
To the patron saint of the waifs and strays
Jinny Bingham's ghost

She earned her reputation on
Those bitter Camden streets
If you'd tarry with the Bingham girl
You'd hold your manhood cheap
But even so the miser Pitcher was
The third man on her lips
Till one night they checked her oven
Found him burned up to a crisp
They tried her for his murder
Thought they'd finally cooked her goose
But even when the next man died
Jinny somehow slipped the noose
He was a fugitive from justice
For love she took him in
But he beat her once too often
And the poison did him in

If you're heading down to Camden Town
Be sure to raise a toast
To the patron saint of the waifs and strays
To Jinny Bingham's ghost

The locals didn't like her
False words followed her around
They called her wicked woman
Sorceress of some renown
They swore upon the gravestones of
Her husbands she'd grown rich
The ribald and the righteous
They knew she was a witch
But the reason she was hated
Was a simple one indeed
She had kindness for the careless
She took in those in need
The guilty and the gamblers
The harlots and the whores
All knew that Jinny offered
Sanctuary at her bar
No judgement for the judged
And you can never fall too far

On the day she died
They swore they saw the devil by her side
A mob broke down her door and
From her chair her body pried
The tavern is still standing
It's now called The Underworld
And it still offers sanctuary for
All broken boys and girls

So let's head on down to Camden Town
And folks, let's raise a toast
To the patron saint of the waifs and strays
Jinny Bingham's ghost