I found a transcription from an unknown author (I think he's an ethnomusicologist and these were course notes of some kind) in a weird online compilation today. I have placed Susanne's lyrics in caps where the other transcriber was uncertain, but I favor the other transcriber's "Borstal" - those were a kind of youth prison in the UK (first one est. at the village of Borstal near Rochester, Kent) until they were replaced in 1982 with "youth custody centres." Of course, John P could clear this up rather quickly... please???

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Jack the Lad (by John Pole, as sung by Frankie Armstrong)
Frankie Armstrong: Songs and Ballads Topic 12TS273 B:1

Where's Jack the Lad, THEN, SNUFFED IT AIN'T HE?
A lady just found him dead
Cold as the pavement and smelling sour
So much methadone, so much methadone, so much methadone inside his head

There's loads of methadone in his cough med'cine, see
The empty bottle lies on the floor
It wasn't for a cough 'cause he was fightin'-fit
He'd never had no drugs, never had no drugs, he'd never had no drugs at all before

Now Jack the Lad was a bit of a tearaway
He'd done a Borstal for thievin' money
But he died safe at home next door to his Old Dear
She loved him all along, loved him all along, she loved him all along, now ain't that funny

Jack and his mates went Up West one Saturday
With bent prescriptions they bought the stuff
If you can drink it all, the lot, the bottleful
You'll blow your mind alright, blow your mind alright, you'll blow your mind alright, that's sure enough

So Jack the Lad he bought the med'cine, see, like John & Lennon, like, they knew the scene
Just for some laughs, like, and he could do with some
What a load of laughs and that, load of laughs and that, what a load of laughs and that his life had been

He took the mixture home and lay down on the bed
He shook the bottle and swigged it all
He twitched and shivered and went out like a light
His mind went deaf and blind, mind went deaf and blind, his mind went deaf and blind behind the wall

He lay unconscious, dead to the world, like,
Up come his dinner and all his tea
Lay in his gullet and slowly choked him
He never moved a muscle, never moved a muscle, he never moved a muscle to spew it free

It wasn't methadone killed Jack the Lad you know
Just the obstruction that made him choke
It's not a hard drug like proper heroin
It was just accident, was just accident, it was just accident he died, poor bloke.

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Hope that was it! I can hardly wait for Susanne to finally put the lyrics up in Henry's Songbook :-) Thank you, thank you, Susanne and John!