The Best of Nowell Sing We Clear, 1975-1986

As I went out one morning, for to take the pleasant air,
The birds were singing in the trees, and the weather, it was fair
I sat for a while to rest myself, at the foot of a shady oak,
When by there came a band of men with their faces black with smoke, (So it’s):
Rise up Jock and sing your song,
For the summer is short and the winter long,
Let’s all join hands and form a chain
‘Til the leaves of springtime bloom again.

Now, the first to come in was a soldier, with his rifle in his hand,
He’s just returned from fighting wars, in many’s the distant land,
He’s left his regiment sleeping, at the foot of a foreign hill,
And he’s returned to England, for to kill or to be killed:

And the next to come in was a sailor, he’s just returned from sea,
He’s sailed away for seven long years, till at last he was set free,
That evening as the sun went down, he anchored by the shore,
And he’s returned to England, for to fight one battle more:

In the middle of the forest, where the blackbird sweet did sing,
The soldier and the sailor took their place inside a ring,
And when the battle started they went at it blow by blow,
And when the battle ended, down their backs the blood did flow:

Now a chimney-sweep and a doctor come a-walking arm in arm,
And when they saw the bodies there, they showed no alarm,
For the doctor had been traveling, through Italy, Spittaly, France and Spain,
And he had in his bag a tiny flask, for to ease the aching pain:

He gave a drink to the soldier, who rose up from the ground,
And he began for to sing his song as he passed the bottle round,
And the sailor, the same, up from the ground, as sure as he was born
And the soldier, the sailor, the doctor and the sweep, they danced until the dawn:

© Golden Hind Music