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Grey Goose and Gander

[ Roud 1094 ; trad.]

Former Witch of Elswick, Fay Hield learned Grey Goose and Gander from Songs of the Ridings: The Yorkshire Musical Museum (collected by Mary and Nigel Huddleston; transcribed, compiled and annotated by Mark Gordon and Richard Adams under the direction of Nigel A. Huddleston; Scarborough: 2001) and sang it in 2010 on her first solo CD, Looking Glass.

Fay and Jon Boden sang Grey Goose and Gander as the November 25, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

The grey goose and gander went over yon hill,
The grey goose went barefoot for fear of being seen.
For fear of being seen, my boys, by the light of the moon,
𝄆 Rise early tomorrow morning all in the same tune. 𝄇

The blacksmith is black but his money is white,
And he drinks in the alehouse from morning till night.
From morning till night, my boys, by the light of the moon,
𝄆 Rise early tomorrow morning all in the same tune. 𝄇

Our landlord got drunk and his reckoning forgot
So we pulled down his signpost and broke all his pots.
We broke all his pots, my boys, by the light of the moon,
𝄆 Rise early tomorrow morning all in the same tune. 𝄇

The shepherd is happy abroad on his down,
He would not change his life for a sceptre and crown.
A sceptre and crown, my boys, by the light of the moon,
𝄆 Rise early tomorrow morning all in the same tune. 𝄇

The gentlemen took the ladies the hounds for to view,
The gentlemen to the ladies said, how do you do?
Said, how do you do?, my boys, by the light of the moon,
𝄆 Rise early tomorrow morning all in the same tune. 𝄇

(repeat first verse)

Links

See also the Mudcat Café thread Origins: Grey Goose and the Gander.