I learned this song from Joe Hickerson's recording, and I heard him sing it live once or twice. Here's how he sang it on his Folk-Legacy album with the lengthy title Folk Songs and Ballads Sung by Joe Hickerson with a Gathering of Friends
WOAD
WOAD (DT Lyrics)
What's the use of wearing braces,
Hats or spats or boots with laces,
Coats and vests you buy in places
Down on Brompton Road?
What's the use of shirts of cotton,
Studs that always get forgotten?
These affairs are simply rotten--
Better far is woad.
Woad's the stuff to show men,
Woad to scare your foemen
Boil it to a brilliant blue
And rub it on your back and your abdomen.
Ancient Britons never hit on
Anything as fine as woad to fit on
Neck or knees or where you sit on--
Tailors, you'll be blowed! Romans crossed the English Channel
All dressed up in tin and flannel;
Half a pint of woad per man'll
Clothe us more than these.
Saxons, you can keep your stitches,
For making beds for bugs in britches
We have woad to clothe us which is
Not a nest for fleas.
Romans, save your armors,
Saxons, your pajamas,
Hairy coats were made for goats,
Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.
March on Snowdon with your woad on
Never mind if you get rained or snowed on.
Never need a button sewed on,
W-O-A-D woad(or, Glory be to woad!)(or, Bollocks to the breeze!) | WOAD (Joe Hickerson liner notes)
What's the use of wearing braces,
Hats and spats and boots with laces,
Vests and pants you buy in places
Down on Brompton Road?
What's the use of shirts of cotton,
Studs that always get forgotten?
These affairs are simply rotten--
Better far is Woad.
Woad's the stuff to show men,
Woad to scare your foe, men!
Boil it to a brilliant blue
Then rub it on your back and your abdomen.
Ancient Britons never hit on
Anything as fine as Woad to fit on
Necks or legs or where you sit on--
Tailors, you'll be blowed!
Romans crossed the English Channel
All dressed up in tin and flannel;
Half a pint of Woad per man'll
Clothe us more than these.
Saxons, you can save your stitches,
For making beds for bugs in britches
We have woad to clothe us which is
Not a nest for fleas.
Romans, save your armors,
Saxons, your pajamas,
Hairy coats were made for goats,
Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.
March on Snowdon with your Woad on
Never mind if you get rained or snowed on.
Never need a button sewed on,
W-O-A-D Woad |
@clothes
sung by Joe Hickerson
filename[ WOADWEAR
TUNE FILE: HARLCH
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Joe Hickerson's Notes:
I learned this attempt at ancient salesmanship from Bob and Bobby Keppel. The latter was Bobby Russell when she and I sang in Gilbert & Sullivan chorus lines at Oberlin. After she married C. Robert Keppel, for many years a mainstay of folksong-revival activity in the Boston area, we exchanged bits of song by correspondence and occasional visits. In 1958, they presented me with their slightly differing but fiercely independent versions of "Woad," and directed me to Dick and Ruth Best's Song Fest (New York, 1955, p. 99) for further subtle divergences. Also that year, Anne Shaver of Oberlin sent me a text she had learned while at school in England the previous year, with a note saying her source believed that the song had originated some years before at Bedford, a British boys' school. There was no question about the tune, however: "Men of Harlech." I guess I have made a few trifling textual changes of my own; the only one I can recall as conscious creation in the final phrase, "W-O-A-D Woad."
For those unacquainted with the mysteries of ancient colouration, Woad refers to a brassicaceous plant (Isatis tinctoria) and to the bluish-purple dye derived therefrom, which was used by ancient Britons at the time of Julius Caesar for ritualistic purposes. Lynn, who has recently become interested in herb cultivation, has planted some Woad seeds in our garden; we'll soon see if it works!
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