SET LIST:
1. Isn’t It Grand Boys
2. The Prickly Bush
3. Matty Groves
4. Down from Dover (written by Dolly Parton)
5. I Never Will Marry
6. The Old Woman from Wexford (Marrowbones)
7. Black Fox (written by Graham Pratt)
8. The Poachers (written by Emily Holbert)
9. Lakes of Champlain
10. Flowers of Bermuda (written by Stan Rogers)
11. Reynardine
12. The Greyhound
13. Farmer’s Curst Wife
1. ISN’T IT GRAND BOYS
Look at the coffin with golden handles
Isn’t it grand boys to be bloody well dead?
CHORUS:
Let’s not have a snivel,
Let’s have a bloody good cry
And always remember the longer you live,
the sooner you’ll bloody well die!
Look at the flowers, all bloody withered
Isn’t it grand boys to be bloody well dead? (CHORUS)
Look at the preacher, bloody sanctimonious
Isn’t it grand boys to be bloody well dead? (CHORUS)
Look at the mourners, bloody great hypocrites
Isn’t it grand boys to be bloody well dead? (CHORUS)
2. THE PRICKLY BUSH
CHORUS:
Oh, the prickly bush,
It pricks my heart full sore
If ever I’m out of that prickly bush
I’ll never get in any more.
“Hangman, oh hangman, hold your rope awhile,
I think I see my father / Over yonder stile.”
“Father, did you bring me gold? Have you brought any fee?
For to save my body from the cold clay ground
And my neck from the gallows tree?”
“No, I didn’t bring you gold. Nor have I brought any fee.
But I have come to see you hung
Upon the gallows tree.”
“Hangman, oh hangman, hold your rope awhile,
I think I see my brother / Over yonder stile.”
“Brother, did you bring me gold? Have you brought any fee?
For to save my body from the cold clay ground
And my neck from the gallows tree?”
“No, I didn’t bring you gold. Nor have I brought any fee.
But I have come to see you hung
Upon the gallows tree.”
“Hangman, oh hangman, hold your rope awhile,
I think I see my lover / Over yonder stile.”
“Lover, did you bring me gold? Have you brought any fee?
For to save your lover from the cold clay ground
And my neck from the gallows tree?”
“Yes, I have brought you gold! Yes, I’ve brought your fee!
For I’ve not come for to see you hung
Upon the gallows tree.” (CHORUS)
3. MATTY GROVES
​​A holiday, a holiday, the first one of the year
Lord Donald’s wife went into the church, the gospel for to hear
And when the gospel it was done, she cast her eyes about
And there she spied young Matty Groves, standing in the crowd
“Come home with me, young Matty Groves, come home with me tonight
“Come home with me, young Matty Groves, and sleep with me ’til light”
“I can’t go home, I won’t go home, can’t sleep with you tonight
By the ring on your finger I can tell you are Lord Donald’s wife.”
“True I am Lord Donald’s wife, but Donald’s isn’t home
He’s gone off to the far north fields a bringin’ the yearlings home.”
But then a servant who standing by, hearing what was said
He swore Lord Donald he would know before the sun had set
In his hurry to carry the news, he grabbed his cloak and ran
And when he came to the broad clear stream he doffed his shoes and swam
So when young Matty Groves lay down, to get a little sleep,
When he awoke Lord Donald was standing at his feet
Saying, “How do like that feather bed, and how do you like those sheets?
And how do you like my lady wife who’s standing here by me?”
“Oh, well I like this feather bed, and better I do like these sheets,
But better I like your lady when she’s lying in my arms asleep.”
“Get up, get up!” Lord Donald cried, “get up as quick’s you can,
It’ll never be said of Donald that he slew a sleeping man!”
“Oh, I can’t get up, I won’t get up, I can’t get up for my life
For you have two long beaten swords, and I but my blunt knife.”
“It’s true I have two beaten swords, but you shall have the best
And I will take the worst of them, and we’ll put them to the test.”
Matty struck the very first blow, and he hurt Lord Donald sore
But Donald struck the very next blow and Matty struck no more
And then he took his own dear wife, and he sat her on his knee
Saying, “Who do you like the best of us, that Matty Groves or me?”
So up she spoke, his lady wife, she’d never spoke so free
Said, “I’d rather a kiss from the dead man’s lips than you in your finery!”
Loudly did Lord Donald rail, loudly did he bawl
He grabbed his wife, and with his knife he nailed her against the wall
Saying, “Dig a grave and make it high, and throw those lovers in,
But bury my lady on the top, for she was of noble kin.”
A holiday, a holiday, the first day of the year
Lord Donald’s wife went into the church, the gospel for to hear.
4. DOWN FROM DOVER (written by Dolly Parton)
I know this dress I’m wearing / doesn’t hide the secret I’ve tried concealing
When he left he promised me that he’d be back / by the time it was revealing
The sun behind a cloud just casts the / crawling shadow o’er the fields of clover
And time is running out for me, / I wish that he would hurry down from Dover
He’s been gone so long, when he left / the snow was deep upon the ground
And I have seen a spring and summer pass / and now the leaves are turning brown
At any time a tiny face / will show itself ’cause waiting’s almost over
But I won’t have a name to give it if / he doesn’t hurry down from Dover, FROM DOVER
My folks weren’t understanding, / when they found out / they sent me from the home place
My daddy said if folks found out / he’d be ashamed / to ever show his face
My mamma said I was a fool, / and she did not believe it when I told her
“Momma, everything’s gonna be alright / ’cause soon he’ll be coming back from Dover”
I found a place to stay out on a farm / takin’ care of that old lady
She never asked me nuthin’ / so I never talked to her about my baby
I sent a message to my Ma / with the name and the address of Mrs. Grover
And to make sure he got that information / when he came down from Dover, FROM DOVER
I loved him more than anything / and I could not refuse him when he needed me
He was the only one I’d loved / and I just can’t believe that he was usin’ me
He wouldn’t leave me here like this, / I know it can’t be so, it can’t be over
He wouldn’t make me go through this alone, / he’ll be coming down from Dover
My body aches, the time is here, / it’s lonely in this place where I’m lying
Our baby has been born, but something’s wrong, / it’s too still, I hear no crying
I guess in some strange way she knew / she’d never have a father’s arms to hold her
So dying was her way of sayin’: “Momma, / he’s not coming down from Dover”, FROM DOVER
5. I NEVER WILL MARRY
This morning as I rambled down by the seashore
The wind it did whistle, and the waters did roar
But I heard a fair damsel make a pitiful sound
It sounded so lonesome in the waters around
CHORUS:
“I never will marry, I’ll be no man’s wife
I expect to live single all the days of my life
The shells in the ocean shall be my deathbed
The fish in deep water swim over my head”
She plunged her fair body in the waters so deep
And she closed her blue eyes in those waters to sleep
My love’s gone and left me, the one I adore
And she’s gone where I never will see her no more (CHORUS)
I never will marry, I’ll be no man’s wife
I expect to live single all the days of my life
6. THE OLD WOMAN FROM WEXFORD (MARROWBONES)
There was an old woman from Wexford / and in Wexford town did dwell,
She loved her old man dearly / but another man twice as well.
CHORUS:
And me rightful little O’Leary, and me rightful Laura Lee
She went down to the doctor / to see if she could find
Anything in the whole wide world / to make her old man blind. (CHORUS)
“Oh take him sixteen marrowbones / and make him sup’ them all,
And when he’s finished he’ll be so blind / he won’t see you at all.” (CHORUS)
So the doctor he wrote a letter and he sealed it with his hand,
And he sent it up to the old man to make him understand. (CHORUS)
But the husband being a crafty man / he knew what must be done,
He ate ’em up and he says / “I’m blind! I cannot see the sun!” (CHORUS)
Says he, “I’ll go to the river / and there myself I’ll drown.”
Says she, “I’ll walk along with you / to see that you don’t fall down.” (CHORUS)
They walked along together / til they come to the rapids’ play,
So there they’ve gently kissed farewell / and she’s made to walk away. (CHORUS)
She ran from straight behind him / to try to push him in,
But the old man lightly jumped aside / and she went tumbling in. (CHORUS)
So loudly she did holler / and loud for mercy call,
But the old man says / “I am so blind, I can’t see you at all.” (CHORUS)
She swam and she swam and she swam around / till she came to the further brim,
But the old man got the long dry branch / and he pushed her further in. (CHORUS)
“Oh it may take sixteen marrowbones / to make your old man blind,
But if you want to murder him / you must creep up close behind.” (CHORUS)
7. BLACK FOX (written by Graham Pratt)
As we were out a hunting one morning in the spring
Both hounds and horses, running well,
Made the hills and the valleys ring
But to our great misfortune, no fox there could be found
Our huntsmen cursed and swore but still no fox moved over the ground
So up spoke our Master Huntsman, the master of our chase
“If only the Devil himself ran by, we’d run him such a race!”
And up there sprung like lightning, a fox from out of his hole
But his fur was the colour of a
Starless night and his eyes like burning coals
So they chased him over the valley and they chased him over the fields
And they chased him down to the riverbank, but never would he yield
And he’s jumped into the water, and he’s swum to the other side
And he’s laughed so loud that the green woods shook
He’s turned to the huntsmen and he’s cried:
CHORUS:
“Ride on, my gallant Huntsman… when must I come again?
For you should never want for a fox to chase all over the glen
And when your need is greatest, just call upon my name
And I will come and you shall have the best of sport and game.”
Well, the men looked up in wonder and the hounds ran back to hide
For the fox it changed to the Devil
Himself, where he stood on the other side
And the men, the hounds, the horses, they went flying back to town
But hard on their heels come a little black fox, laughing as he ran (CHORUS)
8. THE POACHERS (written by Emily Holbert)
In Harold’s time the hunt was fine and the birds did sweetly sing
Then the Bastard came and all the game became the right of the king
But English lads saw sport to be had and swift to poaching turned
So in that way have we e’en today our pleasant supper earned
CHORUS:
One for the partridge,
Two for the hare, and three for the buck and doe
The hunting of the good king’s game shall feed us through the snow
(repeat)
Hunting deer or hare in the greenwoods fair, the King’s own men do ride
But we Saxons few are a-hunting too though cleverly we hide
Time and again come the sheriff’s men chasing poachers ’round the shire
But our prey we’ve shot and we’ll not get caught as we feast around our fire (CHORUS)
Many say that port is the finest sport, that poaching’s far too cold
And they pass the year drinking fine dark beer or else some whiskey bold
But they’ll find that wine is the thief of time and ale is a bitter foe
And the English man has no better friends than his arrows and his bow (CHORUS)
9. LAKES OF CHAMPLAIN
Early one morning Willie Leonard arose.
It’s off to his comrades’ bedchambers he goes,
Saying, “Rise up beloved comrades, let nobody know
It’s a fine and bright morning, to bathing we’ll go. ”
They walked and they talked ’til they came to the lane.
But they were met by the Keeper of Game,
He said “Go back Willie Leonard, do not venture in
For there’s deep & false water in the Lakes of Champlain”
But William stripped off and he swum the lake round,
Got back to the shallows but not to dry ground,
Crying, “Go back my comrades, do not venture in
For there’s deep & false water in the lakes of Champlain. ”
Early next morning his sister arose
And straight to their mother’s bedchamber she goes,
Saying, “Mother, oh Mother, I’ve had a fell dream
I dreamt I saw Willie asleep in the stream. ”
So early that morning his mother went there
Wringing her fingers and tearing her hair
Saying, “Murder, oh murder! Was nobody nigh
That would venture their life for my own darling boy? ”
So we all went down to Martin’s, who lives by the shore
And borrowed his small boat as we’ve done before
And row the dark waters around and around
To see if dear Willie poor body can be found
For to give him a Willie’s funeral would be a great sight
Four and twenty young men all dressed in white
Would take him to the graveyard and lie him in the clay
Say “Farewell, young Wille,” and go weeping away
To see his poor sister, it’d grieve your heart sore
To see his poor mother, it’d grieve your heart more
To see Willie’s sweetheart, it’d give your heart pain
Like the deep & false water in the Lakes of Champlain
Early one morning Willie Leonard arose.
It’s off to his comrades’ bedchambers he goes,
Saying, “Rise up beloved comrades,
It’s a fine and bright morning, to bathing we’ll go.”
10. FLOWERS OF BERMUDA (written by Stan Rogers)
CHORUS:
He was Captain of the Nightingale
Twenty-one days from Clyde in coal
He could smell the flowers of Bermuda in the gale
When he died on the North Rock Shoal
Just five short hours from Bermuda,
in a fine October gale
There came a cry “Oh, there be breakers dead ahead!”
from the collier Nightingale
No sooner had the Captain brought her round,
came a rending crash below
Hard on her beam ends, groaning, went the Nightingale
and overside her mainmast goes.
“Oh, Captain, are we all for drowning?”
came the cry from all the crew
“The boats be smashed! How then are we all to be saved?
They are stove in through and through!”
“Oh, are ye brave and hardy
Collier-men or are ye blind and cannot see?
The Captain’s gig still lies before ye whole and sound,
It shall carry all o’ we” (CHORUS)
But when the crew was all assembled
and the gig prepared for sea,
Twas seen there were but eighteen places to be manned
And nineteen mortal souls were we
But cried the Captain “Now do not delay,
nor do ye spare a thought for me
My duty is to save ye all now, if I can.
See ye return as quick as can be” (CHORUS)
Oh, there be flowers in Bermuda — beauty lies on every hand
And there be laughter, ease and drink for every man,
But there is no joy for me
For when we reached the wretched Nightingale
what an awful sight was plain
The Captain, drowned, was tangled in the mizzen-chains
Smiling bravely beneath the sea (CHORUS)
11. REYNARDINE
One evening there did ramble across the hills so fine,
A lady fair who thought to dare converse with Reynardine.
Her hair was black, her eyes were blue, her lips were red as wine
And he smiled to gaze upon her, that sly bold Reynardine.
She said: “Young sir, be civil — my company forsake
For I’m a noble damsel, and you are just some rake.”
“Oh no, ” said he, “no rake am I, caught up in Cupid’s train.
I’m a pilgrim traveller who’s heading home again.
I have no wife to call my own or spend my wealth upon
A lonesome bed I sadly keep between the dusk and dawn
“If by chance you search for me, to make my fortune thine,
You’ll find me in my castle. Enquire for Reynardine.”
Sun and dark she followed him, and his teeth did brightly shine
As he led her into the mountains… That sly old Reynardine
12. THE GREYHOUND
The Greyhound’s sinking in the waves, and fast the sea receives her
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave
And Captain Bryce is on her deck so we, her hands, may leave her
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave
CHORUS:
Curse the Reaper cowled in black, he’s laughing at your failing
Pull that oar until it cracks, we’re bound for better sailing
Bound for better sailing
At Bryce’s word we went aloft, and fought the screaming bluster
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave
We shortened sails and trimmed the ropes, with all that we could muster
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave (CHORUS)
The Greyhound fought to stay aright as cruel the wild waves tossed her
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave
But when the mast began to crack, we knew that we had lost her
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave (CHORUS)
So put your back into it lads and haul against the thunder
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave
And cry a prayer into the winds the ship won’t pull us under
Curse the Reaper, bend your back and cheat your sorry grave (CHORUS)
13: FARMER’S CURST WIFE
There was an old farmer, lived over the hill
If he ain’t moved on he’s living there still
(Fie fie diddle-eye, fie fie diddle-eye day)
The devil came to him one day, he said:
“One of your kin, I’m gonna take away”
(Singin’ Fie fie diddle-eye, fie fie diddle-eye day)
He said, “please don’t take my only son
There’s work on the farm that’s gotta be done;
Oh, but you can have my nagging wife
I swear by god she’s the curse of my life!”
So they marched on down to the gates of Hell
He said, “Kick up the fire, boys, we’ll roast her well!”
So out came a little demon with a spit and chain
But she upped with her foot and she knocked out his brain
Out came a dozen demons, then a dozen more
But when she was done, they was flat on the floor
So all those little demons went scramblin’ up the wall
Saying, “Take her back, Daddy! She’ll murder us all!”
So the farmer woke up, he looked out the crack
And he saw that Devil bringin’ her back
He heard, “here’s your wife, both sound and well
If I kept her any longer, she’d’a tore up Hell”
Well y’know that old man jumped, and he bit his tongue
And he ran for the hills in a flat out run
He was heard to yell, as he ran o’er the hill:
“If the Devil won’t have her, be damned if I will!”
Singin’ Fie fie diddle-eye, fie fie diddle-eye day!
Singin’ Fie fie diddle-eye, fie fie diddle-eye day!
Singin’ Fie fie diddle-eye, fie fie diddle-eye day!