WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH HER ARM
(Weston/Lee)
In the Tower of London, large as life,
The ghost of Ann Boleyn walks, they declare.
Poor Ann Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he made the headsman bob her hair.
Oh yes! He did her wrong long years ago,
And she comes up at night to tell him so.
With her head tucked underneath her arm she walks the Bloody Tower,
With her head tucked underneath her arm at the midnight hour.
She comes to haunt King Henry; she means giving him what-for.
Gadzooks! She's going to tell him off for having spilt her gore,
And just in case the headsman wants to give her an encore,
She has her head tucked underneath her arm.
With her head tucked underneath her arm, she walks the Bloody Tower,
With her head tucked underneath her arm, at the midnight hour.
Along the draughty corridors for miles and miles she goes.
She often catches cold, poor thing; it's cold there when it blows,
And it's awfully awkward for the Queen to have to blow her nose
With her head tucked underneath her arm.
The Beefeaters all know her well by sight.
To see the plight she's in fills them with grief,
And when she wanders 'round their hut at night,
Oh, they always ask her in to share their beef.
She thanks them, and then with a puzzled frown,
She asks them how she's going to get it down.
With her head tucked underneath her arm she walks the Bloody Tower,
With her head tucked underneath her arm, at the midnight hour.
One night she caught King Henry; he was in the canteen bar.
Said he: "Are you Jane Seymour, Anne of Cloves, or Katherine Parr?
How the sweet-san-fairy-ann do I know who you are
With your head tucked underneath your arm?"
From the singing of Stanley Holloway, on the LP Argo(Decca)
SPA/A 199, circa 1971. The sleeve notes say that he was contacted directly by the songwriters as this "would suit me." He did sing Anne of Cloves, not Cleeves.
It may be that the verses in the DT about football are a variant for a specific audience.
The versions in the DT are under the title 'Anne Boleyn.'
Stanley Holloway recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a0cFYa5Ffw
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