Lyr Add: Merry Lads of Gyetshead

Subject: Lyr Add: MERRY LADS OF GYETSHEAD
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 15 Jun 04 - 04:10 PM

MERRY LADS OF GYETSHEAD

Tune- "Sunny Banks of Scotland."

Come, lads, assemble in a ring,
And a' your flutes an' fiddles bring,
And join wi' me all ye that sing,
To praise the lads of Gyetshead.
They are se frank, they are se free,
They please the lasses tiv atee;
they cry there's nyen that e'er aw see
Can match the lads of Gyetshead

Chorus
Then fill the glasses up wi' glee,
And drink to them wi three times three,
Lang may they live and happy be,
The merry lads of Gyetshead.

The mothers warn their dowters fair
Of a' young men for to beware,
But myest of a', ma bairn, tyek care
Of them blithe lads of Gyetshead.
They are se willy and se kind,
They seun wad win a lass's mind.
When aw was young 'twas rare to find
A lad like them of Gyetshead

Then fill their glasses, etc.

When'er they gan to tyek a gill
At Jenny Brown's or where they will,
Ye find them blithe and cheerful still,
The merry lads of Gyetshead;
Or when at Kenmir's house they meet,
Se happily they spend the neet,
Say what ye will, there's nyen can beat
The merry lads of Gyetshead.

Then fill the glasses, etc.

At hoppin times, when fiddles play,
When lads and lasses dance a' day,
Abyun them a' they tyek the sway,
The merry lads of Gyetshead.
The country lads to beat them try,
But na, na, na, they canna come nigh;
The aud wives cock their thums and cry,
Weel dyun, the lads of Gyetshead.


then fill the glasses, etc.

Aw henna power their worth to tell,
Abyun a' else they bear the bell,
And oh! let me for ever dwell
Amang the lads of Gyetshead.
Ye power abyun, to them be kind,
And keep them still in friendship joined;
When life is o'er then let me find
In Heaven the lads of Gyetshead.

Then fill the glasses, etc.

-Tyneside Minstrel," 1824 by B.

First appeared in the Tyneside Minstrel, 1824 published by W. Stephenson, Jun. There is no author given only the initial B. It is the only song in the collection under that signature.