The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #22393   Message #4195486
Posted By: GUEST,Paul Burgess aka Brock
15-Jan-24 - 12:36 PM
Thread Name: Songs about Southampton
Subject: RE: Songs about Southampton
Here's a song by Rob (Sibby) Sibthorpe.
I transcribed it from 'Southampton in Song' by Brian Hooper and Jeff Henry

The Sack Of Southampton


In thirteen hundred and thirty-eight on the fourth day of October
There came a fleet of fifty galleys upon Southampton Water
They landed at the gravel close by the Weston Shore
Came rushing up Old Bull Street into the town did pour

Chorus after each verse:

So come you bold Southampton men listen to the call
You’d better be quick when you build your walls
Or you’ll do no building at all

They slew the children in the streets and the women in the houses
They stabbed the holy congregation running from St Michael’s
They filled the town with fire and filled the men with dread
The burgesses like cowards to the countryside had fled

All that day they reeked their will with fire and sword and dagger
While the men of old Southampton outside the town did gather
Their numbers swelled by volunteers from the countryside all round
At dawn we’ll be back and we’ll take revenge for the sacking of our town

By dawn the French and Spaniards and the other bold invaders
Slept exhausted from a day and night of evil favours
When suddenly the English came storming through the town
They drove the pirates to the sea and they cut the stragglers down

In thirteen hundred and thirty-eight on the fourth day of October
There came a fleet of fifty galleys upon Southampton Water
And for a while they held the town but gave the town away
Leaving homes and lives destroyed that flourished yesterday

The final chorus has 'you'll do no building at' repeated 3 times.
I'm not sure in the first verse whether it's supposed to be 'the western shore'. ie I'm not sure whether Weston Shore (on the other side of the Itchen from the main town) is correct or even whether it had that name back in 1338.