Lyr Add: The song of the Clarion Scout- J Levy

Subject: Lyr Add: The song of the Clarion Scout- J Levy
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 11 Apr 24 - 06:04 AM

The song of the Clarion Scout - Joseph Levy, 1895.

Oh! who rides by day and night, round about
Tinkling his bicycle bell?
Hark now he nears us with laudate shout.
Hurrah! Hurrah! 'tis the Clarion Scout!
List to the story he tells.

What tho' the weather be cold as an icicle,
Bravely he clings to his Clarion bicycle
Scattering leaflets, sticking up label
Filling a breech at old hostelry tables.
Such is the being I'll sing you about.
Three hearty cheers for the Clarion Scout!

(Chorus):

Hurrah for the Clarion Scout!
Hail him with a strenuous shout!
As bold as Lysander
To push propaganda.
Hurrah for the Clarion Scout.

Down to the haunts of the parson and squire,
Putting opponents to rout;
Bestriding his steed with pneumatic tyre,
Through village and hamlet, thro' mud and thro' mire,
Rideth the Clarion Scout.

Nailing down lies and disposing of fables,
Improving the landscape by sticking up labels:
What does he care for the wind and the weather?
Be he alone or a hundred together,
He's always eager to join in a bout.
Then give three cheers for the Clarion Scout.

What do these labels mysterious teach?
What is the message they bring?
Something that comes within everyone's reach:
A gospel of Brotherhood- that's what they preach.
In praise of that gospel I sing.

They say that all produce belongs to the toiler;
To sweep from old England each idler and spoiler
Abolish the sweater and rack-renting knave;
The land for the people- the just and the brave.
These lessons with vigour he's spreading about
It's humanities saviour, the Clarion Scout.

",,,the anthem of the cycling 'scouts' of the National Clarion. (An early socialist movement which triggered the tradition of the right in the UK of labelling cyclists as being 'subversives', 'Lefty Guardian readers' and so on. In the 1920's they were simply called 'Bolsheviks!)."

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/off_belay/is_the_red_flag_a_racist_anthem-226690
> search\scroll to 'Clarion Scout'

"music by Edward Pugh"
ref programme for the play Behold Ye Ramblers by Neil Gore
www.townsendproductions.org.uk/shows/behold-ye-ramblers/

as sung by
Strawberry Thieves Socialist Choir
www.facebook.com/strawberrythieveschoir

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