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While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping

[ Roud 363 ; Ballad Index TcWGaLSl ; trad.]

Barge skipper Bob Roberts sang While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping in 1978 on his Topic LP Songs from the Sailing Barges.

Mike Waterson sang While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping in 1981 on the Watersons' album Green Fields. A.L. Lloyd commented in the album's sleeve notes:

Most songs of the poacher-gamekeeper “wars” of the early nineteenth century were pretty violent, sometimes lethal affairs. But this one (based on a real happening?) tells a story that is ultimately full of charm. Bob Roberts, the former sprits'l barge skipper sings this version. It's well known among gypsies and travellers too, who sometimes introduce Romany or “cant” words into the story.

June Tabor sang a song with the same title but quite different words on her album Airs and Graces, later included in her anthologies Aspects. and The Definitive Collection. A different recording, live at the Jesse Boot Centre, Nottingham in 1986, can be found on her 4CD anthology Always. June Tabor commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

From the Hammond / Gardiner mss, collected severally in Hampshire. Female hares, one is informed, make better eating. The hare is innocent, OK.

The Copper Family sing a different song, called Dogs and Ferrets, on their CD Coppersongs 2: The Living Tradition of the Copper Family, the first verse of which concludes with the line “While the gamekeeper lies sleeping”.

Lyrics

Mike Waterson sings While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping

I had a long-legged lurcher dog,
I kept her in me keeping.
She'd flush out hare, on a moonlit night,
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping.

One day the policeman collared me,
To have me in his keeping.
Your brindle made a moonlit raid,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

I seen her come out of the wood,
Across the fields a-speeding.
A partridge she had in her mouth,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

But my dog's black and white you see,
So I'm not for your keeping.
He couldn't see, I'd brindled she,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

One day his wife fell mortal ill,
He had to give up p'licing.
But I dropped one bird on his door each night,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

Now she fared so well upon pheasant broth,
Her colour come back creeping.
So long as my bitch roamed abroad,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping,
While the gamekeepers lay sleeping.

Now the bitch she pupped and I given him one,
To have in his own keeping.
Now he's left the force, and he roams wi' me,
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping,
While gamekeepers lie sleeping.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Greer Gilman for the transcription.