GUY FAWKES



I'll tell you a doleful tragedy

Guy Fawkes, the prince of sinisters

Who once blew up the House of Lords

The King and all his ministers

That is, he would have blown them up,

And we would ne'er forget him,

his will was good to do the deed

If they had only let him.



Singing bow-wow-wow,

Whack fol-de-riddle,

Singing bow-wow-wow.



Straightway he came from Lambeth side

And wished the State was undone;

And crossing over Vauxhall bridge

That way he came to London;

That is, he would have crossed the bridge

To perpetrate his guilt, sir,

But a trifling thing prevented him,

The bridge it was not built, Sir.



And as he searched the dreary vaults

With portable gas light, sir,

About to touch the powder train

At the witching hour of night, sir;

That is, he would have used the gas,

Had he not been prevented;

But gas you know, in James's time,

It hadn't been invented.



Now, when they caught him in the act,

So very near the Crown's end,

They sent straightway to Bow Street for

That gay old runner Townsend;

That is, they would have sent for him

For danger, he's no starter at

But Townsend wasn't living then,

He wasn't born till arter that.



So then they put poor Guy to death

For ages to remember,

And now they kill him every year

In dreary, dark November;

That is, his effigy, I mean

For truth is strange and steady,

They cannot put poor Guy to death

For he is dead already.



@revolution @outlaw

from Louise Pound, "American Ballads and Songs"

filename[ GUYFAWKE

SF

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