| |
Nottingham Ale
Dance: "Liliburlero"
Song: "Nottingham Ale"(traditional), one of many that use this tune.
When Venus, the goddess of beauty and love,
Arose from the froth that swam on the sea
Minerva sprang out of the cranium of Jove,
A coy sullen dame as most authors agree.
But Bacchus, they tell us,
That prince of good fellows
Was Jupiter's son, pray attend to my tale.
For they who thus chatter
Mistake quite the matter
He sprang from a barrel of Nottingham Ale.
Chorus:
Nottingham ale, boys, Nottingham Ale,
No liquor on earth is like Nottingham Ale.
Ye bishops and curates, priests, deacons, and vicars,
You say that devil made whiskey and gin.
But the Lord gave us barley to use in our liquors,
So the drinking of ale is surely no sin.
It dispels every vapour, saves pen, ink, and paper,
For when you've a mind in the pulpit to rail
'Twill open your throats,
You may preach without notes,
When inspired with a bumper of Nottingham Ale.
Chorus:
Ye doctors who more execution have done
With powder and potion and bollus and pill
Than hangman with halter or soldier with gun
Or miser with famine or lawyer with quill,
To dispatch us the quicker,
You forbid us malt liquor
Till our bodies consume and our faces grow pale.
Let him mind who you pleases,
What cures all disease is
A comforting glass of good Nottingham Ale!
Chorus:
Return to Dance Index
|
