I did it again. I must stop clearing my website data each evening. But, as Art Thieme would say, when your memory's shot, forget it.

The tune to this one is on a Mudcat thread, but not the lyrics. It was very popular back in the early days of the revival. I first heard it on a Declan Affley LP.

RAKE AND A RAMBLING MAN
(Don Henderson)

Chorus
I am a rake and a rambling man
Fortune I fall to when I can
Could I be, would I be, other than
A rake and rambling man

I travel far, I travel wide
From where winds spring to where winds blow
And if I walk or if I ride
Won't matter only that I go
Stay with the friends that I have made
I stay with the rich and the poor
No welcome has been overstayed
I never linger too long for
I'm a rake but a rambling man

With the police, I know the score
Seldom we meet, but now and then
I'm called to mind that there are more
Police than ever were rambling men
Once as I got, I quickly returned
I am a man and free
Long nights go by and the lesson learned
That in jail no one can be
A rake or a rambling man

Women know men and that talk of the day
Pries at the secrets silent nights hold
Two thousand miles and ten towns away
Names fade and fall from the story that's told
Walked into wind whips at the foot fall
Night breeze is soft and soon spent
Who can't love one might better love all
What cares the road of the farewell that went
With a rake that's a rambling man

I travel far, I travel wide
From where winds spring to where winds blow
For every hill has an unseen side
Cross roads that quarrel the four ways to go
I'll take by chances with fortune and fame
Heads and tails fall as they will
If some know my song who do not know my name
It will not matter if I am still
A rake and a rambling man

The tune and chords may be found at page 63 of the abovemented Don Henderson songbook.

Henderson noted: 'Declan Affley sang this song beautifully. He gave it a quality that can't be conveyed on this page, one that I am not sure was even there when I wrote it. Some reviewers have said that this song is autobiographical; so is the information on my driver's licence'.

Youtube only gives you a Don Williams song with a similar name.

The Affley recording has been reissued on the double CD 'Songs of Don Henderson' on Shoestring Productions label - well worth purchasing:

CD

--Stewie.