Brisk and Lively Lad Sung by Bob and John Copper on the Song for Every Season LP, and by John Copper and Jon Dudley on the Coppersongs2 CD.
It's of a brisk and lively lad come out of Gloucestershire,
And all his full intention was to court some lady fair,
Her eyes shone bright like the morning dew that does on the lily lie,
She was grace all in her face all mixed with modesty.As these two lovers were walking they knew each other well
When someone heard them talking and did her father tell,
And when he came for to hear the same and to understand the thing,
Then said he, 'Twill never be, I will part them in the spring.It was in the springtime of the year there was a press begun
And all their full intention was to press that farmer's son,
'Twas to press him and to send him far over the raging sea,
Where I'm sure he will no more keep my daughter's company.On the twenty-first of August there was a fight begun
And foremost in the battle did they place this farmer's son,
There he received a dreadful wound in the hollow of his thigh,
Every vein was filled with pain he got wounded dreadfully.She went straight to the Captain as Captain's handy mate
And everything he said to her she agreed to undertake,
So tenderly she dressed his wounds which so bitterly did smart
Then said he, A one like thee once was mistress of my heart.She went straight to the Commander and offered very fair,
Forty or fifty guineas shall buy my love quite clear,
No money shall be wanted no longer tarry here,
Since 'tis so pray let us go, to old England we will steer.She went up to her father's gate and stood there for a while
He said, Lord in heaven bless me, there's my dear and only child.
She said, Father, I have found him and brought him safe on shore
We will spend our days in England, never roam abroad.
Words and music are in both The Copper Family Song Book and Bob Copper's book, A Song for Every Season.
Coppersite
New: 19 September 1998 | Now: 30 November 2000 | Garry Gillard fecit