Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)

Subject: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,BB
Date: 30 Apr 23 - 06:39 PM

Another Dominic Behan song which I can't make out some of the lyrics to and am hoping someone can help me out with. Also, if anyone has any clue what the meaning of the song is supposed to be, I'm also very interested; I've Googled "Throckmorton" but I don't see what its relevance to the song's topic is.

HOLD ME BEARS
Dominic Behan

There's a little place I'm fond of, and it isn't o'er the sea
It isn't what I dream about, or in my memory
I've coldly calculated just precisely where it be
It's in a little place they call "Throckmorton"

So hold me bears, and tame me bulls
And send them out to graze
But lock the gate behind you, mate
There's thieves about the place
Without me stocks, I'm on the rocks
A beggar in disgrace
Don't let them take me over in Throckmorton

I had a friend who met his end, 'twas easy as a pie
He thought he let the shares he bought [?] or to lie[?]
[???] his broker couldn't quite see eye to eye
And now he's left a beggar in Throckmorton

So hold me bears, and tame me bulls
And send them out to graze
But lock the gates behind you, mate
There's thieves about the place
I've lost me stocks, I'm on the rocks
The Chronicle's[?] ablaze
They've gone and took me over in Throckmorton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,cnd
Date: 30 Apr 23 - 08:36 PM

I'll try listening with a closer ear some time later, but for now, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exYhp2hw3T0

It's a pretty fun song.

For what it's worth, the description on the liner notes is no less obtuse: "HOLD ME BEARS. And don't envy the strong healthy airy athletic life of the billiards player."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: Reinhard
Date: 01 May 23 - 04:50 AM

The London Stock Exchange was in Throgmorton Street from 1972 to 2004. But that was ten years after Behan's 1962 song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,BB
Date: 01 May 23 - 09:43 AM

@cnd
I've a feeling the liner notes are messed up; the billiards comment is surely supposed to be about the Govan Billiard Hall Song, and some of the others might be in the wrong place too. I don't know which one would be supposed to be for Hold Me Bears, though.

@Reinhard
Ah, it could well be Throgmorton rather than Throckmorton (although it seems they're actually just variant spellings of each other—Throgmorton Street is named after Nicholas Throckmorton, whose surname comes from the village Throckmorton); I'd never heard of either of them and I was just typing what it sounded like Behan was saying into Google and Throckmorton came up and sounded like it fit, so I thought it was that. A London street could also be a more likely setting than a village with a population of just 200.
Also, although the text in the Wikipedia page says the LSE was there from 1972 to 2004, the caption on the picture for the page says "Throgmorton Street, outside the Stock Exchange, Summer 1955".
So overall I think it's probably supposed to be about stockbroking! 'Bears' and 'bulls' are obviously then referring to bear and bull markets, and taking over is referring to... well, business takeovers, not dragging the person to a Worcestershire village as I initially thought!

Maybe this means that the Chronicle ablaze referred to is the News Chronicle, which folded into the Daily Mail in 1960?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: cnd
Date: 21 May 23 - 04:50 PM

Sorry BB, took longer to get back to this than I meant to...

I think everything you've said in your last comment makes sense. Definitely related to stock trading and such.

Here's a stab at the missing stanza:

I had a friend who met his end, 'twas easy as a pie
He thought he'd let the shares he bought ascend -- oh, to nigh
But the banksy I had brokered couldn't quite be eye to eye
And now he's left a beggar in Throckmorton

Some comments -- the n in "Oh, to nigh" has more of an L sound than an N but I couldn't think of anything else logical. It could be ascension instead of ascend, or perhaps something else.

I've found no evidence "banksy" has ever been used as a slang term for a banker, but it makes sense... some, at least.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,BB
Date: 23 Jun 23 - 10:01 AM

My turn to apologise, cnd, for the delay in replying! (Is there any way to follow threads, getting an email or something when they're replied to?)

I agree that 'ascend' or 'ascension' (or 'ascensional'? wiktionary says it's a word) could be good candidates (do stocks ascend?), but as you say, there's definitely an 'L' sound rather than an 'N' in whatever phrase comes after that, which makes me think that it's 'lie' or something similar rather than 'nigh'. (Initially I was thinking 'essential to life', but 1) I don't hear the 'f' in 'life', and 2) there seems to be more syllables in the first word, sounding more like 'essentional'?)

I'm not sure about the next line, though. The first word could be 'but', but I just don't hear 'banksy', and I think I hear 'his broker' and 'see eye to eye' more than 'had brokered' and 'be eye to eye'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Jun 23 - 10:33 AM

Third stanza I hear "With icy eye his broker..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jun 23 - 03:31 PM

> Third stanza I hear "With icy eye his broker..."

Might that be ICI, a large company in Britain at the time?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: cnd
Date: 25 Jun 23 - 08:31 AM

"With icy eye" was tempting to me, too, Jeri, but with how well the rest of the song (and others of Behan's I've heard) flow, that came off a bit clunky. I think ICI makes an awful lot of sense there.

I'm still not 100% confident on the line above that, but here's a revised attempt:

I had a friend who met his end, 'twas easy as a pie
He thought he let the shares he bought ascend -- you ought to lie!
Full of ICI, his broker couldn't quite see eye to eye
And now he's left a beggar in Throckmorton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Jun 23 - 10:55 AM

I don't know anything about "ICI" (American), and it sounds the same. You're probably right, because otherwise, he's rhyming "eye" with "eye", which IS clunky. It's definitely "with", not "full of". "You ought to lie" doesn't sound right, either. Sounds like something ending with "July", but that's a guess.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Jun 23 - 11:04 AM

On another site ((MatchLyric) the verse is:

I had a friend who met his end, 'twas easy as a pie
He thought he let the shares he bought or to lie
his broker couldn't quite see eye to eye
And now he's left a beggar in Throckmorton

Doesn't sound right either, but I give up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,BB
Date: 02 Jul 23 - 03:19 PM

'ICI' is definitely a strong possibility. Can't distinguish between it and 'icy eye' based on sound, but it would fit since it may have been in the financial headlines in the early '60s since (according to Wikipedia) "[the chairman's] reputation was severely damaged by a failed takeover bid for Courtaulds in 1961–62". I suggested above that 'the Chronicle' refers to the News Chronicle which folded into the Daily Mail in 1960; so maybe he's just referencing financial events of the time?

Maybe the mystery line before that is also referring to a company or something? Don't know of any company back then called 'Ascension' though...

@Jeri
Agreed on 'with' instead of 'full of' and 'you ought to lie' not sounding right. Not sure about 'July'; could it be 'all July' or 'old July' or something? But it still sounds a bit more like 'lie' to me
Re: MatchLyric, I think that's just taken the lyrics I had posted on Genius and removed the '[?]'s from where I didn't know the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hold Me Bears (Dominic Behan)
From: GUEST,Dick Miles
Date: 03 Jul 23 - 05:44 PM

had a friend who met his end, 'twas easy as a pie
He thought he let the shares he bought ascend for to fly[go up in value
his bank and broker couldn't quite see eye to eye
And now he's left a beggar in Throckmorton