Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds

Subject: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: GUEST,Jo
Date: 15 Nov 24 - 05:09 AM

Does anyone know a song about a Fox that is chased by hounds - the song ends with the fox saying that all other animals run free so why can't he?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 24 - 05:19 AM

An maidrín rua?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: gillymor
Date: 15 Nov 24 - 07:41 AM

Reynard the Fox by Sweeny's Men.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 24 - 08:14 AM

Thank you gillymor and guest - I'm afraid it's not either of those.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: RTim
Date: 15 Nov 24 - 09:36 AM

This was collected in The New Forest by Dr. George Gardiner....

Tim Radford

BOLD REYNARD,THE FOX. Roud 358 – Albert Doe – Bartley
(GG/1/21/1325) – Tune & Text – Doe – 17 Dec 1908

The Lord for the king’s hounds he did send
Jerry Balsam he swore I should die
But I’ve left three brothers behind
That loves young lambs better than I.

It was by Simon Stewart’s I run
When the keeper shot the hair of my thigh
It’s pardon dear huntsman and hounds
For this fatal wound I shall die.

It’s forty-five miles I have run
I’ve run it in three hours space
My strength it begins for to fail
And the hounds they got forward apace.

(I had many a times been surprised
With the hounds that could fly like a crow
- As song by Doe)
It’s often times I have been chased
By the dogs that run much like a cow
But in all the whole course of my life
I never had a breathing till now.

It’s down stony valleys I run
Where the bloodthirsty hounds did me follow
It made my old coat stand on end
For to hear the bold huntsmen Holloa.

It’s down stony fields where they catched him
Where they cause Bold Reynard to die
Good Lord how they racked him and tore him
And cause his old jacket to fly.

It’s now Bold Reynard he’s dead
They’ll turn to the Dolphin and dine
They’ll dip his fur paw in the bumper
And drink my lord’s health in good wine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 03:14 AM

We seem to be having trouble finding this song for Jo. So I’m boosting it back to the top! Any thoughts Joe?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 04:28 AM

I remember Stanley Accrington singing one at Fylde Folk Festival the morning that Princess Diana's death was announced. Very poignant and apt but I cannot remember the actual song. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 10:36 AM

Dido Bendigo

Can't make alink, sorry.
https://yorkshirefolksong.net/song.cfm?songID=76

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 11:34 AM

It sounds to me like the one that includes "Why won't they let me be" in the chorus and "Why oh why can't I" at the end, and it's really bugging me that I can't remember more about it....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 11:36 AM

Correction - the last line is "Why, oh why not me" to rhyme with "let me be".

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 11:38 AM

Now you have posted that, Kitty, I have the same lines going through my head and still no proper memory of it!

Robin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 12:18 PM

I also think that the line between the two I've mentioned goes something like "There's many a beast may roam at will".

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: cnd
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 01:06 PM

Based on the above, perhaps the song is The Running Fox by The Young 'Uns / Graeme Miles? Lyrics on Mudcat: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=103685#4130377 -- listen here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: GUEST,Jo
Date: 19 Nov 24 - 05:50 PM

Thank you so much everyone - yes it’s The Running Fox by The Young 'Uns
Jo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 20 Nov 24 - 02:33 AM

Thank you cnd, for providing the answer that was tantalisingly out of my reach. I was trying to remember who wrote it, because I knew it wasn't a new song but not trad either.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Song about a fox being chased by hounds
From: GUEST,Guest: Charles Macfarlane
Date: 22 Nov 24 - 01:30 PM

When I first saw the thread title, I thought it might be John Masefield's famous, but very long, poem "Reynard The Fox", an extract from which I have heard sung somewhere around the clubs in the distant past, possibly Witney FC?

https://allpoetry.com/Reynard-the-Fox----Part-1
https://allpoetry.com/Reynard-the-Fox----Part-2