The Brisk Lad

Dawn to the south-east, casting a bit of colour over Bordesley and Small Heath, but bringing little except more news of economic woe. It's a bleak landscape to match the bleak times; and with that in mind, here's a great traditional song about a man forced to desperate measures, performed by talented gents Damien Barber and Mike Wilson.


I am a brisk lad and me fortune is quite bad,
In fact, I am wondrous poor.
But it's I do intend me fortune to mend,
I shall build me an house down on the moor, me brave boys,
I shall build me an house down on the moor.

Me father he keeps fat oxen and sheep
And a neat little nag on the down.
But in the middle of the night when the moon do shine bright
There's a number of jobs to be done, me brave boys,
There's a number of jobs to be done.

For it's I'll roam around on some other man's ground,
I shall take a fat ewe from his pack.
And with the aid of me knife, I shall shorten its life
And I'll carry him home on me back, me brave boys,
I shall carry him home on me back.

Then me children shall pull the skin from the wool,
I'll carve him up to the bone.
And when the constable do come I'll stand there with me gun
And I'll swear all I have is me own, me brave boys,
I shall swear all I have is me own.