Why not have it here?

TIM MCGUIRE
(Leon Rosselson)

Little Tim McGuire loved to play with fire,
Always hated water, never used to wash,
Loved the smell of burning, of bonfires burning,
Loved to play all day with his little tinderbox.

He chased the sparks as they flew into the evening,
Hailed the flash of lightning and the burning sun.
"When I'm a man, then I'll become a fireman.
Then I can light a fire for everyone."

When he was four, they dressed him in a uniform,
Sent him to a school with iron railings all around.
Hated the school and the rules and the railings,
Took his little tinderbox and burnt it to the ground.

Oh, how he laughed and danced in the firelight!
Oh, how he laughed as the flames leapt to the sky!
"When I'm a man, I'm going to be a fireman,
Keep a bonfire burning until the day I die."

When McGuire grew older, they made him wear a bowler,
Set him to work in an office in the town.
Hated the pens and the pins and the papers;
Had just one ambition: to burn the office down.

Little Tim McGuire loved to play with fire,
Loved the blaze of roses and the golden grain,
Loved the leaves of autumn, the red leaves of autumn,
Loved a slender girl with a smile like a flame.

The judge said at his trial, "Your behaviour has been vile.
You're a menace to society though you may think you're big.
You have to go to prison—" and then, what a commotion!
For smoke and fire were pouring from the judge's wig.

Oh, how he laughed and danced in the courtroom!
We took him down. We locked him in the darkness of the cell.
Never saw the sun or heard the songbirds calling;
Saw the prison bars and heard the prison bell.

Then early one morning, just as the day was dawning,
A great wheel of fire spun skywards from the jail.
The iron bars melted. The stone walls crumbled.
No one in the prison lived to tell the tale.

No one ever found Tim McGuire's little tinderbox.
No one ever found a trace of Tim McGuire.
Perhaps he's up in heaven setting light to angels' halos.
Perhaps he's down in hell dancing round the fire.

Repeat 1

[As sung by The McCalmans on "House Full," 1976; and "The Best Of," 1979. Also recorded by Leon Rosselson on "RosselSonGs," 1990.]