Songs and Lyrics

Version 1

%abc-2.1

X:1
T:Shooting Goshen's Cock-ups
C:Trad
M:2/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=120
K:Bb
f/2f/2 f/4f3/4 | B/2B/2 B3/4B/4 | c/2c/2 f/2f/2 | d/2(B/2 B/2)B/2 | 
w:If you'll list-en for a while, a sto-ry I will tell you, - And
c/2c/2 c3/4c/4 | c/2c/2 c/2c/2 | f/2f/2 g/2g/2 | a/2(f/2 f3/4)f/4 | 
w:if you don't at-ten-tion pay, I'm sure I can't com-pel you; - But
g/2e/2 b/2a/2 | g3/4f/4 e/2d/2 | e/4d3/4 e3/4f/4 | g/4(f3/4 f3/4)f/4 | 
w:as you've asked me for to sing, I'd bet-ter start at once. - I'll
f/4f3/4 b/4b3/4 | c/2c/2 B/2A/2 | G/2c/2 c/2B/2 | (B/2A/2) G/2F/2 | 
w:tell you how I got six weeks and my mate got two months. - With me
B B | B3/2 z/2 | f/2f/2 g/2a/2 | b/2f/2 g/2e/2 | d/2c/2 | B z | 
w:ow-dow-dow, Fal-the-rid-dle-od-dy, With me row-dow-dow.
% W:
W:1
W:If you'll listen for a while, a story I will tell you,
W:And if you don't attention pay, I'm sure I can't compel you;
W:But as you've asked me for to sing, I'd better start at once.
W:I'll tell you how I got six weeks and my mate got two months.
W:
W:Chorus (after each verse):
W:With me row-dow-dow,
W:Fal-the-riddle-oddy,
W:With me row-dow-dow.
W:
W:Now, it happened on one Monday night: two more, myself and Clarkie
W:Went out a-pheasant shooting in a place we knew was narky.
W:Three keepers rushed upon the spot when guns began to rattle,
W:And our two mates they'd done a bunk and left us to the battle.
W:
W:We tried our best to get away, but vain was our endeavour.
W:We should not have been taken if we all had stuck together,
W:But me and Clarkie was captured and taken to the lock-up,
W:And charged before Inspector Harris for shooting Goshen's cocks up.
W:
W:At ten o'clock next morning to the town hall we was taken.
W:We thought our case would settled be, but we were quite mistaken.
W:We was put back upon remand 'til the fourteenth of November,
W:And if you've read the Croydon Times, I 'spect you will remember.
W:
W:[When our] remand was at an end; for Croydon we came steering,
W:And soon before the magistrates we stood to have our hearing.
W:Our case it was so very clear, it did not want much trying.
W:When our time it was knocked down to us, our wives they started crying.
W:
W:Now we asked them to propose a fine but that they would not sanction.
W:Then soon we knew our residence would be the public mansion.
W:The magistrates to me, I'll own, they acted like a neighbour.
W:They let me off with six weeks, but Clark two months hard labour.
W:
W:Now four o'clock that afternoon, for Wandsworth jail we started.
W:Our friends were there to see us off; they all seemed broken-hearted.
W:Whilst rattling up to Wandsworth jail, our mind received a bewildering
W:About our future prospects of our wives and little children.
W:
W:At Holloway, our clothes were searched and ev'rything was taken
W:Away from us, the warders thought, but they were quite mistaken;
W:For as I paced my lonely cell, I could not help but smile
W:To think I had deceived them; I'd got 'baccer all the while.
W:
W:The first four weeks I was in jail, they put me grinding flour,
W:Likewise pumping water onto a lofty tower.
W:My strength it quickly did decrease; I thought it rather cruel
W:To make a man work harder on brown bread and water gruel.
W:
W:On the twenty-fourth of December, my time it did expire.
W:When I got out, I had some scran; that's what I did require;
W:And when I had a drink of beer, I really felt quite merry,
W:But my mate he don't get out until the middle of January.

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Song Note

Song by Traditional
Country of origin: England

Folk song references:

Roud-902

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The Song And The Story

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