I used to sing slightly different words.

Country Song as sung by Sydney Carter for the London Folksong Cellar and recorded from NZ radio in November 1968.

As I walked out one morning I was singing a country song,
I met a man with a microphone and och, he did me wrong,
He led me up a leafy lane and putting on a tape
He had my country ditty down before I could escape.

chorus
Singing whack fol Peter and Paul and a Mary
And Burly old Ivey and all.

To Tin pan alley he took my song and there he happened to meet
A publisher who cleaned it up and gave the tune a beat,
And now it's on the hit parade and now they pay a fee
To the false young man with the microphone and none of it comes to me.

I'll sell my rack, I'll sell my reel, I'll buy a steel guitar,
I'll take a ticket to London town and in a coffee bar,
I'll sing until my name is known and when I'm on TV
I'll tell the world of that false young man and what he did to me.

So come all you pretty country girls who like to sport and play,
Be careful of your copyright, that's all they want today
And never trust a roving man, whoever he may be
If his hand is on the microphone and not upon your knee.

Robyn