I went to see what Spotify had, and found this. It's probably not the song you had in mind, and I don't know whether Brenda Wootton had anything to do with it. This is my transcription:


BALLAD OF TREVITHICK
As sung by Roger Bennett on "Folk, Roots, and Traditional Music from Cornwall: Songs from the Hill, Vol. 3" (2006)

1. Richard Trevithick was born near Camborne town.
His puffer was a steam engine going up the hill and down.
The locals were all 'mazed, and even the Aussies bowed.
Tevithick the inventor old(?) Cornwall should be proud.

CHORUS: Onward, ever onward, always on the move,
Richard Trevithick had something else to prove,
Always on the move.

2. As well as a steam engine, this railway pioneer
Invented screw propulsion, and steamships did appear;
And the paddle wheel we must not forget,
But he went on to something else he hadn't invented yet.

3. He went to South America; a fortune there he found,
Bought a pearl fishery and lost two thousand pounds,
Very nearly found himself in an alligator stew,
"Hurrah!" he told the destitute. "The deal's fallen through."

4. Trevithick had no business sense, no money left to dream.
After all he had done, he'd just run out of steam.
For all his wild exuberance Trevithick finally paid.
He died up in Dartford, in a pauper's grave was laid.

LAST CHORUS: Onward, ever onward, always on the move,
Richard Trevithick now had nothing left to prove,
Nothing left to prove. REPEAT.