Cheese and bread,
The old cow's head,
Roasted in a lantern.
Cheese and bread,
The old cow's head,
Roasted in a lantern.
A bit for me and a bit for thee
And a bit for morris dancers,
A bit for me and a bit for thee
And a bit for morris dancers


(Alternative:
Morris Dance is a very pretty tune,
I can dance in my new shoon,
Morris Dance is a very pretty tune,
I can dance in my new shoon;
This is it, and that is it,
And this is morris dancing,
My old father broke his leg
And so it was a-chancing.)

abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Journal of the English Folk Dance Society, 1927, Oxford University Press, London

Notes:
Anne Gilcrest wrote:

The 'song' above menthioned belongs to 'Long Morris' - the only Lancashire morris-tune (as far as I know) to which words were sung by the dancers. This was the 'old tune' and the universal one for the processional, and it is interesting to note that it appears to be a variant of the well-known Helston Furry dance-tune, the Furry dance also being a processional. The 'old cow's head, Roasted in a lantern', suggests a reminiscence of the pagan sacrifice of cattle, in which there was a competition to secure a part of the head, considered of special sanctity.

One of the best sets of morris-tunes sent to me came from Smith Williamson, formerly a bandsman in the Moston and Newton Heath.

(There is an apparent error in the barring just before the repetition of 'A bit for me' where there is an extra crochet rest. I have reproduced that extra rest here.)

Roud:
Laws:
Child:

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Related Songs:  Lancashire Cross Morris (thematic)