This section contains the songs:  The Wild Rover, Scarborough Fair, Wat Tyler, John Barleycorn, The Demon Lover and Over The Hills And Far Away.

 

I've been a wild rover for many a year
And I've spent all me money on Whisky and Beer
But now I'm returning with gold in great store
And I never will play the wild rover no more
 
           CHORUS:
            And its no, nay, never
            No, nay, never no more
            Will I play the wild rover
            No never, no more

 

I went to an alehouse I used to frequent
And I told the landlady my money was spent
I asked her for credit, she answered me "nay"
"For custom like yours I can get any day"

 

            CHORUS

 

Then out my pocket I took sovereigns bright
And the landlady's eyes opened wide with delight
She said "I have whisky and wines of the best"
"And the words that I spoke they were only in jest"

 

            CHORUS

 

I'll go back to my parents, confess what I've done
And ask them to pardon the prodigal son
And if they caress me as oft times before
I never will play the wild rover no more

 

            CHORUS

 

And you shall be a true lover of mine

 

            CHORUS:
            And on the field at Blackheath
            Us commons covered the earth
            More men than ever I did see
            Poor honest men from birth

 

The men were up from Kent, and out of Essex too
Though naught but the Thames divides us and unites us onwards
Through all the villages of England and on to London town
Where we poor men would meet our king and lay our grievance down
Wat Tyler led us men from Kent, rough hands were shaken there
King Richard and the commons our bold resolve and prayer

 

We knew our king would hear us, our loyalty was clear
T'was the bloody lawyers' poll tax that had brought us labourers here
And yet he wouldn't see us, so to London we did roar
And the poor there and the Essex men burst down the prison door
What happened at the Tower was justice, rough in part
The murders of the Flemish boys sat uneasy in my heart

"And now the king must see us" said Tyler to his men
And the very next day young Richard came and met us at Mile End

 

            CHORUS

 

Kent and Essex, Bedford, Sussex received King Richard's word
No harm nor blame would come to them if home they would return
And Lincoln, Cambridge, Stafford too received our young king's favour
And thirty thousand left us there, believing it was over
But Tyler, he was not convinced and told us to remain
"I want to hear his words again, for nothing much has changed"
So Tyler, he approached the king and took Richard by the arm
And his rough but friendly gesture caused Richard's knights alarm

 

"Ah my lord " said Tyler, "companions we shall be"
"I shall trust in you my lord, if you will trust in me"
And so he called for water, and then he called for ale
And his manner shocked young Richard's knights and I watched the Lord  Mayor pale
"I know this man" a voice accused, "Wat Tyler is a thief"
The Lord Mayor feared he'd harm the king, that was his true belief
And there at Smithfield drew his sword, and cut our captain down
And the heart went out of all of us with his blood upon the ground

 

            CHORUS

 

Young Richard, he was merciful and he pardoned one and all
But home to Kent like beaten dogs, still serfs we had to crawl
But how precious was our liberty and the hope that filled us all
That left poor Tyler's severed head upon a bloody pole

 

There were three men

Came from the west

Their fortunes for to tell,

And the life of John Barleycorn

As well

 

They laid him three furrows deep,

Laid clods upon his head,

The these three men made a solemn vow

John Barleycorn was dead.

 

They let him die for a very long time

Till the rain from heaven did fall,

Then little Sir John sprang up his head

And he did amaze them all.

 

They let him stand till the Midsummer Day,

Till he looked both pale and wan.

Then little Sir John he grew a long beard

And so became a man.

 

They have hired men with the scythes so sharp

To cut him off at the knee,

They rolled and they tied him around the waist,

The served him barbarously.

 

They have hired men with the crab-tree sticks,

To cut him skin from bone,

And the miller he has served him worse than that,

For he's ground him between two stones.

They've wheeled him here, they've wheeled him there,

They've wheeled him to a barn,

And they have served him worse than that,

They've bunged him in a vat.

 

They have worked their will on John Barleycorn

But he lived to tell the tale,

For they pour him out of an old brown jug
And they call him home brewed ale.

Girl:                  Where have you been my long lost love
                         These seven long years and more

Demon:            Seeking gold for thee my love
                         And riches of great store

                         I might have married the king's daughter
                         Far, far beyond the sea
                         But I refused the golden crown
                         All for the love of thee
                        
Girl:                  What have you to keep me with
                         If I with you should go
                         If I foresake my husband dear
                         And my unsorrowed soul
                        
             CHORUS:
             I'll show you where the white lilies grow
             On the banks of Italy
             I'll show you where the white fishes swim
             At the bottom of the sea
             (Repeat)
            
Girl:                  Seven ships all on the sea
                         The eighth one me to bear
                         With four and twenty mariners
                         And music on every hand
                        
Narrator:          She set a foot upon the ship
                         No mariners could behold
                         The sails were of the shining silk
                         The masts of beaten gold
                        
             CHORUS
            
Girl:                  What are yon high, high hills
                         The sun shines sweetly in

Demon:            Those are the hills of heaven, my love
                         Where you will never win

             CHORUS
            
Girl:                  What is that mountain yonder there
                         Where evil winds do blow

Demon:           That is the mountain of hell he cried

Narrator:          Where you and I must go

Narrator:          He took her up to the topmost high
                         To see what he could see
                         He sank the ship with a flash of fire
                         To the bottom of the sea
                        
             CHORUS

 

Hark now the drums beat up again

For all true soldier gentlemen

Then let us list and march I say

Over the hills and far away