The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102312 Message #2071800
Posted By: PJ
08-Jun-07 - 06:58 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Hard Cheese of Old England (Les Barker)
Subject: Lyr Add: HARD CHEESE OF OLD ENGLAND (Les Barker)
Here's a slightly different transcription of Barker's lyrics to "Hard Cheese of Old England," with some spelling and grammatical fixes:
Hard Cheese of Old England (Les Barker)
There's Cheddar and Cheshire and Lancashire too, Leicester's bright orange and Stilton is blue. It waxes so lyrical, what can you do but sing,
Oh the hard cheese of old England, In old Eng-a-land, very hard cheese.
Derby's got green bits because of the sage, And when it gets older it's kept in a cage. And what does it hum when it reaches this age but,
[Cho.]
They say double Gloucester is twicest as nice, They say double Gloucester--there, I've said it twice. It's nice in potatoes but nicest in mice; and sing:
Those Edam foreigners aren't worth a mention, Old Gorgonzola's renowned for its stench, 'n' His brother Emile wrote novels in French; and sing:
There's Swaledale and Wensleydale, Rutland to add, Shropshire and Cornish you may not have had, It's not bad on salads (this ballad's not sad); and sing:
My young love said to me my mother won't mind, And my father once liked [won't slight?] you for your lack of rime, [rind ?] One's no greater love for his food than mankind; and sing:
Oh the hard cheese of old England, In old Eng-a-land, very hard cheese.
Alternate interpretations from below added in italics. -Joe Offer-