Fair Venus, the goddess of beauty and love
Arose from the froth which swam on the sea
Minerva leapt out of the cranium of Jove
A coy, sullen slut, as most authors agree
Bold Bacchus, they tell us, the prince of good fellas
Was a natural son, pray attend to my tale
And they that thus chatter, mistake quite the matter
He sprung from a barrel of Nottingham Ale!
Nottingham Ale, boys, Nottingham Ale
No liquor on earth is like Nottingham Ale!
Nottingham Ale, boys, Nottingham Ale
No liquor on earth like Nottingham Ale!
And having survey'd well the cask whence he sprung
For want of more liquor, low spirited grew
He mounted astride to the jolly cask clung
And away to the gods and the goddess flew
But when he look'd down and saw the fair town
To pay it due honours, not likely to fail
He swore that on earth 'twas the town of his birth
And the best – and no liquor like Nottingham ale
Ye bishops and deacons, priests, curates and vicars
When once you have tasted, you'll own it is true
That Nottingham Ale, it's the best of all liquors
And who understands the good creature like you
It expels every vapor, saves pen, ink and paper
And when you're disposed from the pulpit to rail
T'will open your throats, you may preach without notes
When inspired with a bumper of Nottingham Ale
Ye doctors who more execution have done
With powder and bolus, with potion and pill
Than hangman with halter, or soldier with gun
Than miser with famine, a lawyer with quill
To dispatch us the quicker, you forbid us malt liquor
Till our bodies consume and our faces grow pale
But mind it what pleases and cures all diseases
Is a comfortable dose of good Nottingham Ale
(Ye poets, who brag of the Helicon brook
The nectar of gods, and the juice of the vine
You say none can write well, except they invoke
The friendly assistance of one of the nine
Her liquor surpasses the stream of Parnassus
The nectar Ambrosia, on which gods regale
Experience will show it, nought makes a good poet
Like quantum sufficit of Nottingham ale)
4 comments:
Oh man, I've got this album on cassette tape (somewhere)!
Very charming piece. I enjoy Renaissance/Early Modern tunes like this; it's always surprising how freely they invoke Roman pagan figures, but the educated all read Latin in those days.
Scienceman, you lent it to me once. I hope I didn't keep it and lose it. It was a personally copied cassette, not a commercial one.
AVI - If I haven't even looked for it in the last five years, I think I can live without it!
Post a Comment