GEORGE'S SON
John Kirkpatrick
As recorded by The John Kirkpatrick Band on "Force of Habit" (1996)

Oh, there was George and there was George's Son.
Two finer dogs, oh, they never did run,
And they worked the sheep, and they worked 'em well,
Oh, but George's Son, he could run like hell.

Oh, one dark night when all were safe asleep,
To George's Son, oh, some devil did creep,
Sayin', "Show your master, show him true,
What young George's Son with them sheep can do."

Oh, how they scrambled and how they flew,
And how they thundered that parish through.
How high the cliff he drove them along,
Oh, and in his ears rang that devil's song.

Their clattering bells roused this shepherd bold,
And at that sound, oh, his blood ran cold,
And he prayed for mercy with all his might,
Saying, "Some demon rides with my sheep this night."

And quickly, quickly he ran the ground,
And quickly, quickly that cliff he found,
And quickly, quickly he raised his gun,
And the devil smiled on young George's Son.

A flock was lost, and a fortune too,
And a brisk young farmer cold ruin knew.
To some labouring job he was forced to come,
Oh, but his saddest loss was young George's Son.

But there was George and there was George's Son.
Two finer dogs, oh they never did run,
And they worked the sheep, and they worked 'em well,
Oh, but George's Son, he could run like hell.

[Notes copied from MainlyNorfolk.info:]
John Kirkpatrick sang his own song on Brass Monkey's 1986 album See How It Runs. According to the album sleeve notes, he wrote it "for a dramatisation by the Orchard Theatre company of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd but not used in the end. This song is a synopsis of chapter five." The LP was re-released in 1993 as second half of the CD The Complete Brass Monkey.