THE COCKNEY'S LAMENT

FAREWEEL the days when Lundun lads as Champions nobly shone,
Defiant te the wide wide world, the bonny Thames thor throne,
For noo Tyne lads beet us complete, wor chance wi them's but sma'!
Oh! sad's me heart, whe'd ivor thowt te see us browt se law.

Korus

Oh I dear oh! thor'snyen like Chambers, oh!
De a' we can we hevent a man
Te lick Bob Chambers, oh !

Fareweel the days when Lundun boats wes the finest that wes made,
But Harry Clasper, frae Tyneside, seun put wor's i' the shade;
He myeks his boats se leet an' neet, brings oot sic forstclass men,
He licks war builders, rowers te,-wor Lundun glory's gyen.

Fareweel the days when Robert Coombes rowed fleetly ower the tide,
The swiftest champion ivor knawn, the Cocknies' boast an' pride,
For gox, he'd had but little squeek, if he'd leeved this day te see,
For if Coombes cud myek his fine skiff run, Bob Chambers myeks his flee.

Fareweel the days when Lundun crews pull'd the winnin boat se fast
When i' skiffs, an' pairs, an' fower-oars we cuddint be sorpass'd,
But noo we might as weel not pull at the grand regretta here,
For Tyneside lads cum here an' win the prizes ivry eer.

Fareweel the days when Lundun lads victorious cud compete,
When strangers nivvor thowt te trywarchampions te defeat,
But noo Bob Cooper's put it on-ye'll knaw wi' we aw mean;
An' te pull the greet Bob Chambers the Australian mun be GREEN.

Fareweel the days, them happy days, When the world we cud defy,
We've struggl'd hard te keep war nyem, but noo think shem te try,
For Everson, Kelley, White, and Green, te Chambers did givein,
Bell's Life may puff an' praise them up, but it cannet myek them win.

Fareweel, fareweel them gud aud days, we'll see thor like ne mair,
For then ne men like Chambers pull'd, nyen cud wi' him compare;
Still Lundun men are gud as then,-resentful thowts decline,
For weel we knaw, say what we will, the BEST MEN'S on the Tyne.

-Source: Joe Wilson, (author) Songs and Drolleries, 1890