> The Watersons > Songs > Mike Waterson: The Brisk Lad (All I Have Is My Own)

The Brisk Lad / The Sheepstealer / All I Have Is My Own

[ Roud 1667 ; Ballad Index RcTShSte ; trad.]

Ewan MacColl sang this song as The Sheep Stealer in 1966 on his Topic album The Manchester Angel, and Roger Nicholson did it in 1972 on his Trailer album Nonesuch for Dulcimer.

Mike Waterson recorded The Brisk Lad in 1977 for his eponymous LP Mike Waterson. The track was also added to the Watersons' Green Fields CD reissue. A live recording from the Udazkenean Festival, Donostia, Spain, in 1986 was released in 2004 with the title All I Have Is My Own on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song. A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

Mike's version of this is based on one got from George Dowden of Lackington in the Thomas Hardy part of Dorset in 1905. It is ironical that the words of this disreputable old sheepstealer song are carried by a tune whose close relatives have done good service as hymns and carols such as The Truth Sent from Above, The Sinner's Dream, There Is a Fountain of Christ's Blood, and The Carnal and the Crane.

Magpie Lane sang this song like Ewan MacColl with the title The Sheepstealer in 1998 on their CD Jack-in-the-Green.

Jon Boden sang The Sheepstealer as the October 13, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Damien Barber and Mike Wilson sang The Brisk Lad in 2011 on their CD The Old Songs, giving their source in their liner notes:

Another song from the Mike Waterson's classic, eponymous 1977 solo release. Heard many versions since, but nur surprisingly, Mike's takes the biscuit.

Lyrics

Mike Waterson sings The Brisk Lad

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

My 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, my 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 s'll take a fat ewe from his pack.
And with the aid of my knife, I shall shorten its life
And I'll carry him home on my back, me brave boys,
I shall carry him home on my back.

Then my 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 my gun
And I'll swear all I have is my own, my brave boys,
I shall swear all I have is my own.

Jon Boden sings The Sheepstealer

I am a brisk lad though my fortune is bad
And I am most wonderful poor.
But indeed I intend oh my life for to mend,
And to build a house out on the moor, my brave boys,
And to build a house out on the moor.

The farmer he keeps fat oxen and sheep
And a neat little nag on the downs.
In the middle of the night when the moon does shine bright
There's a number of work to be done, my brave boys,
There's a number of work to be done.

I'll ride all around in some other man's land,
And I'll take a fat ewe for my own.
With the aid of my knife I will end of its life
And then I will carry it home, my brave boys,
And then I will carry it home.

And my children they will pull the skin from the ewe,
And I'll be in a place where there's none.
When the constable comes I will stand with my gun
And I'll swear all I have is my own, my brave boys,
I'll swear all I have is my own.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Greer Gilman, Wolfgang Hell and Paul Tracy for the transcription.