Son Come Tell it unto Me
“Where have you been the whole night long,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I’ve been in the search of an old game cock,
That flew from tree to tree.” As sung by Danny Brazil in The Tabard bar in Gloucester on 9 May 1966. Recorded by Peter Shepheard (Springthyme 66.5.22). Also sung by other members of the Brazil family - Danny’s sister Lemmy (Springthyme 67.6.25), brother Tom Brazil and by another sister Alice Webb.
“Where have you been the whole night long,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I’ve been in the search of an old game cock,
That flew from tree to tree.”
“How come the blood on your arm sleeve,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“That is the blood of my own brother dear,
That lays over under yonder tree.”
“What did you kill your own dear brother for,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“Because that he killed the two turtle doves [Tom: old game cock
That flew from tree to tree.”
“What will you do when your father comes to know,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I’ll sail away to another foreign shore
Where my face he’ll never, never see.”
“What will you do with your own dear wedded wife,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I’ll dress her up in a jolly sailor’s suit,
And take her on board the ship with me.”
“What will you do with your tender babes,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I’ll leave them home with their own granpa,
For to bear them company.”
“What will you do with your houses and your land,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“I will leave them all to my own father,
For to maintain my little family.”
“Now tarry sailor when will you turn this way again,
Son come tell it unto me?”
“When the moon and the sun both shine as one,
And that you will never, never see.”
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