Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper

Subject: Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper
From: GUEST,Darlodave
Date: 27 Aug 26 - 07:21 AM

Can anyone provide the lyrics for song, The Gamekeeper by the long retired group, Fourum, who came from the Richmond, North Yorks area. A lot of their self penned songs have been forgotten but are most interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper
From: Jack Horntip
Date: 27 Aug 26 - 11:07 AM

Google search has a few links:

The Gamekeeper

One is a long youtube video that probably has your song. Can't verify while at work.

Subject: ADD: The Gamekeeper (Allan Miller)
From: Reinhard
Date: 27 Aug 26 - 01:29 PM

Fourum's 2011 compilation "The Dales Collection" is still available on iTunes. I've just tried to transcribe the song:

THE GAMEKEEPER
(Allan Miller)

Based on Barry Hines’ novel of the same name, this song tells about a year in the life of a gamekeeper in the Dales. It was the first song Allen Miller ever wrote that was set in The Dales.

Twilight on the moor,
Setting sun is getting lower
Another day has come and gone
Out on the land
With a shotgun in his hand
The gamekeeper’s night has just begun

Though he’s working for a lord
He barely can afford
The price of a pint or to avail
To supplement his pay
He spent some time every day
Breeding ferrets which he offers up for sale

With his traps and guns and snares
He will seek out foxes’ lairs
And the warrens where the rabbits always lurk
And his pair of trusty hounds
Whose devotion knows no bounds
Yes it’s all part of the gamekeeper’s work

He spends most of the year
Torn between a pride and fear
Keeping birds alive for other men to kill
But it’s a job that must be done
So the Lord can have his fun
And the restaurants in London have their fill

And when the season’s come
Then his work is almost done
But the parting from his birds can still bring pain
And he sadly counts them all
As one by one they fall
Knowing soon to have to start over again

And when the season’s o’er
And the Lord can shoot no more
But the poachers still are lurking in the night
And if there’s more than two or three
He keeps back quietly
For he known that it’s a waste of time to fight

Still his duties he’ll not shed
For he really loves his work
It’s a better job than many he could name
He’s a man who loves the land
And the ways of nature’s hand
He’s a country man and always will remain

From Fourum’s eponymous 1978 LP "Fourum" (Sirius Records SP519)
and their November 2011 3CD compilation "The Dales Collection"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Aug 26 - 02:49 PM

(*ahem*) Should that not be

    For his duties he'll not shirk

in the last verse?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper
From: Reinhard
Date: 27 Aug 26 - 08:14 PM

Thanks for the correction, MaJoC!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gamekeeper
From: GUEST,Darlodave
Date: 28 Aug 26 - 06:11 AM

Reinhard
Many thanks for sourcing my request.