Steeleye Span Album

There's your lords and ladies fine,
Riding in a coach and six,
Nothing to drink but claret wine,
Talking politicks.
London is a dainty place,
A great and gallant city!
All the streets are paved with gold,
And all the folks are witty.
There's your beaux with powder'd clothes,
Bedaub'd from head to chin,
Their pocket-holes adorned with gold,
but not one sou within.
There's your lords and ladies fine,
Riding in a coach and six,
Nothing to drink but claret wine,
Talking politicks.
There your English actor goes
With many a hungry belly;
While heaps of gold are forc'd, God wot,
on Signor Farinelli.
There's your lords and ladies fine,
Riding in a coach and six,
Nothing to drink but claret wine,
Talking politicks.
London is a dainty place,
A great and gallant city!
All the streets are paved with gold,
All the folks are witty.
There's your dames with dainty frames,
Skins as white as milk;
Dressed every day in garments gay,
Of satin and of silk.
London is a dainty place.

Traditional

(Instrumenatl)

Traditional

There was a King lived in the West,
Green the woods so early,
Of all the harpers he was the best,
Where the hart goes yearly.

The King he was a hunting gone,
Green the woods so early,
And left his lady all alone,
Where the hart goes yearly.

The King of Faerie with his dart,
Green the woods so early,
Has pierced the lady to the heart,
Where the hart goes yearly.

So after them the King has gone,
Green the woods so early,
Until he came to a large grey stone,
Where the hart goes yearly.

Chorus
And he took out his harp to play
First he played the notes of pain,
All their hearts were weary,
Then he played the Faerie reel,
And all their hearts were cheery.
The King of Faerie, with his rout,
Green the woods so early,
Has gone to hunt him all about,
Where the hart goes yearly.

‘Oh come ye into the Faerie hall,
Green the woods so early,
And play your harp among us all,
Where the hart goes yearly.

Chorus

‘Oh what shall I give you for your play?
Green the woods so early,
‘Oh let me take my lady away.
Where the hart goes yearly.

The Faerie King said ‘Be it so,
Green the woods so early,
Take her by the hand and go.
Where the hart goes yearly.

Chorus

Oh there were twelve witches bold
And they lived in the north,
And their equals were not seen
On the face of the earth.

The first witch, with her hand,
The storm could hush,
And the second witch could stop
All the torrents rush.

And the third witch, she could strike
Upon the golden lyre,
And she charmed both young and old
Into the dancing fire.

Rowan tree, red thread,
Hold the witches all in dread.

The fourth witch she could dive
In the sea as a fish,
And the fifth witch she never wanted
Any meat on a dish.

And now the next witch go
Under the earth could she,
And the seventh witch could dance
Upon the rolling sea.

And the eighth witch on her horn
She would blow a blast,
And everyone who heard
Would shudder and stand aghast.

Rowan tree, red thread,
Hold the witches all in dread.

Oh the ninth witch she tamed all
That in the greenwood crept,
And the tenth witch, not a nap
She had ever slept.

The eleventh witch, the grisly
Lindworm bound,
And the twelfth witch she could all
Things understand.

And these twelve witches bold,
They all lived in the north,
And their equals were not seen
On the face of the earth.

Rowan tree, red thread,
Hold the witches all in dread......

Traditional

I'm as brown as brown can be,
My eyes are black as sloe,
I'm as brick as a night-time nightingale
As wild as the forest doe.

My love was high and proud,
A fortune by his side,
But a fairer maiden than ever I'll be He took to his bride.

He sent me a letter of love,
He sent it from the town,
He wrote to tell me his love was gone
Because I was so brown.

I sent back his letter of love,
And in anger I wrote down
Your love is wasted on such as me
Because I am so brown.

Chorus
I'll dance upon your grave for twelve months and a day.
I'll do as much for you as any maiden may.
I'll make you rue the very day that you were born.
I'm a bonny brown girl.

I heard not another word more
Until six months passed by
A doctor said he had a broken heart
Without me he would die.

I went to his bedside
I walked and never ran
I laughed so loud and then louder still
All at this love-sick man.

Chorus

‘I prithee forget, said he,
‘I prithee forget and forgive
Oh, grant me just a little space
That I may be well and live.

Chorus

I'll dance upon your grave for twelve months and a day
For twelve months and a day.
You'll die for betraying a bonny brown girl
All on one summer's day.

Chorus

What makes you go abroad fighting for strangers
When you could be safe at home free from all dangers?
A recruiting sergeant came our way
To an Inn nearby at the close of day
He said young Johnny you're a fine young man
Would you like to march along behind a military band,
With a scarlet coat and a big cocked hat,
And a musket at your shoulder,
The shilling he took and he kissed the book,
Oh poor Johnny what will happen to ya?
The recruiting sergeant marched away
From the Inn nearby at the break of day,
Johnny went too with half a ring
He was off to be a soldier he'd be fighting for the King
In a far off war in a far off land
To face a foreign soldier,
But how will you fare when there's lead in the air,
Oh poor Johnny what'll happen to ya?
What makes you go abroad fighting for strangers
When you could be safe at home free from all dangers?
The sun shone hot on a barren land
As a thin red line took a military stand,
There was sling shot, chain shot, grape shot too,
Swords and bayonets thrusting through,
Poor Johnny fell but the day was won
And the King is grateful to you
But your soldiering's done and they're sending you home,
Oh poor Johnny what have they done to ya?
They said he was a hero and not to grieve
Over two wooden pegs and empty sleeves,
They carried him home and set him down
With a military pension and a medal from the crown.
You haven't an arm and you haven't a leg,
The enemy nearly slew you,
You'll have to go out on the streets to beg,
Oh poor Johnny what have they done to ya?
What makes you go abroad fighting for strangers
When you could be safe at home free from all dangers?

Traditional

(Instrumental)

Traditional

Oh have you heard Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Loch Laggan,
For he has killed a gallant squire
And his friends are out to take him.

He's gone to the House of Marr
The Nurse there did befriend him,
And he has gone upon his knees
And begged for her to hide him.

‘Where're you going Sir James? she said
‘Where now are you riding?
‘Oh I am bound for a foreign land,
But now I'm under hiding.

Chorus
Where shall I go?
Where shall I run?
Where shall I go for to hide me?
For I have killed a gallant squire
And they're seeking for to slay me
Then he's turned him right and round about
And rolled him in the bracken,
And he has gone to take a sleep
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan.

He had not well gone out of sight
Nor was he past Milstrethen
When four and twenty belted knights
Came riding o'er the leathen.

‘Oh have you seen Sir James the Rose,
The young heir of Loch Laggan,
For he has killed a gallant squire,
And we're sent out to take him.

Chorus

‘You'll see the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan,
And there you'll find Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.

‘You must not wake him out of sleep,
Nor yet must you afright him,
Just run a dart right through his heart,
And through the body pierce him.

They sought the bank above the mill
In the lowlands of Loch Laggan,
And there they found Sir James the Rose
Sleeping in the bracken.

Chorus

Then up and spake Sir John the Graeme
Who had the charge a-keeping,
‘It'll never be said, dear gentleman,
We killed him while he's sleeping.

They seized his broadsword and his targe
And closely him surrounded, And when he woke out of his sleep
His senses were confounded.

Now they have taken out his heart
And stuck it on a spear
They took it to the House of Marr,
And gave it to his dear.

Chorus

Foster

Intro. (Dulcimer) Woooh...

Camptown racetrack five miles long
Doo-dah doo-dah
The Camptown ladies sing this song
Doo-dah doo-dah day

Camptown racetrack five miles long
Doo-dah doo-dah
Camptown ladies sing this song
Doo-dah doo-dah day

Gwine to run all night
Gwine to run all day
I'll bet my money on a bobtail nag
Somebody bet on the bay

I'm gwine to run all night
Oh, I'm gwine to run all day
I'll bet my money on a bobtail nag
And somebody bet on the bay

Ending (Fiddle)

Traditional

I will walk the streets up, I will walk the streets down
I will see the landlady dressed in a silk gown
With my elbows all out and my breeches without knees
You are the biggest vagabond that I ever did see.

Where I go so raggedy and you go so fine
It's of the good money you have took of mine
Ale and tobacco for you I have paid
If I ain't you'd have gone in your raggedy ways.

If I had a-listened to my old woman at the first
I might have had silver and gold in my purse
To maintain my wife and my children so small
But 'tis I, silly drunkard, have ruined them all.

I will cock up my hat as I had on before
And I'll go home to me wife and I'll love her no more
And the more I will beat her the more she will cry
And the more silly drunkard and blackguard am I.