A.L. Lloyd collected songs, and also created them. He adapted texts from broadsides, chapbooks, motifs and fragments and fitted them with tunes, and moulded them seamlessly into gems which he passed back into the tradition. From him comes The Bonny Black Hare.
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On the 14th of May, at the dawn of the day
With my gun on my shoulder to the woods I did stray
In search of some game, if the weather proved fair
To see could I get a shot at the bonny black hare.
Well, I met a fair maid there with her face as a rose
Her skin was as fair as the lily that grows
I says, My fair maiden, why ramble you so?
Can you tell me where the bonny black hare do go?
Well, the answer she gave me, oh her answer was no
But under my apron, oh they say some do grow
And if you'll not deceive me, I vow and declare
We'll both go together to shoot the bonny black hare.
So I laid this girl down with her face to the skies
I took out my ramrod and my bullets likewise
I says, Lock your legs round me and dig in with your heels
For the closer we get, love, the better it feels.
Now the birds they were singing in the bushes and trees
The song that they sang was, oh she's easy to please
I felt her heart quiver and I knew what I'd done
Says I, Have you had enough of my old sporting gun?
But the answer she gave me, oh her answer was nay
It's not often young sportsmen like you come this way
So if your powder is good and your bullets play fair
Why don't you keep firing at the bonny black hare?
Well, my powder is wasted and my bullets all gone
My ramrod is limber and I cannot fire on
But I'll be back in the morning, and if you are still there
I'll be delighted to take another shot at the bonny black hare.
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