Come all brother tradesmen that travel alone,
O, pray come and tell me where the trade is all gone,
Long time I have travelled and cannot find none,
And it's O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Provisions you buy at the shop it is true,
But if you've no money there's none there for you,
So what's a poor man and his family to do?
And it's O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

If you go to a shop and you ask for a job
They will answer you there with a shake and a nod
That's enough to make a poor man turn out and rob,
And it's O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

You will see the poor tradesmen a-walking the street
From morning to night for employment to seek,
And scarcely they have any shoes to their feet,
And it's O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Our soldiers and sailors have just come from war,
Been fighting for their King and their country sure,
Come home to be starved, better have stayed where they were,
And it's O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

So now to conclude and to finish my song
Let us hope that these hard times they will not last long,
And I may soon have occasion to alter my song
And sing O, the good times of old England,
In old England very good times.




abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Bob Copper, A Song For Every Season, CopperSongs, 1971

Notes:
From Jim Copper's songbook. See The Copper Family website.

Roud: 1206 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
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