> Tony Rose > Songs > Bridgwater Fair

Jockie to the Fair / Bridgwater Fair

[ Roud 1571 ; Ballad Index ShH76 ; trad.]

Tony Rose sang Bridgwater Fair on his second album, Under the Greenwood Tree. He commented in the album's sleeve notes:

Jockie to the Fair is just a snatch of the familiar Headinton Morris tune. Here I have used it as a lead into Bridgwater Fair—one of many such local fair songs which abound all over England. This one seems to have been neglected by the folk revival, but its simple melody lends itself well to the flute organ [played by Dolly Collins].

Lyrics

All you who roam, both young and old,
Come listen to my story bold.
For miles around, from far and near
They come to see the rigs of the fair.

Chorus (after each verse):

Oh master John, do you beware,
And don´t you go kissing the girls at Bridgwater Fair.

The lads and lasses they come through
From Stowey, Stogursey and Cannington too;
That farmer from Fiddington, true as my life,
He´s come to the fair to look for a wife.

There´s Tom and Jack, they look so gay,
With Sal and Kit they haste away,
To shout and laugh and have a spree
And dance and sing right merrily.

There´s Carroty Kit, so jolly and fat
With her big flippety floppety hat,
A hole in her stocking as big as a crown
And the hoops of her skirt hanging down to the ground.

The jovial ploughboys all serene,
They dance the maidens on the green.
Says John to Mary, “Don't you know
We won't go home till morning, oh.”

It´s up with the fiddle and off with the dance,
The lads and lassies gaily prance,
And when it´s time to go away,
They swear to meet again next day.

Acknowledgements

Garry Gillard transcribed the lyrics based on the text from Tom & Barbara Brown's CD Tide of Change.