Mark A. Mandel, © 1997
ttto "McIntyre" ("The Old Dun Cow", "The Old [your inn's name here]")
(Use the verse tune except where specified.)
The Lord of Dreams and his sister Death
in a public house one night [1389]
Were drinking as a lady and a gentleman,
their faces chalky white,
When they heard a man to his fellows boast,
"Death ain't for the likes of I,
For how can the Reaper carry me off
if I just refuse to die?
[As refrain]
"Oh, no," says Hob, "it's a put-up job.
It's a mug's game, not for me.
There's places to go and women to swive,
and plenty of things to see.
'Cos I've been through war and I've been through Plague,
and I've made up my mind, have I:
You lot may lie wi' the maggots, but
Hob Gadling will not die!"
Then "Oh," says Death, "what a bit of fun!
I wonder how he'd do?"
"Let's see," says Dream, and he calls right out,
"I'd like a word or two.
I know you, Hob, though you don't know me,
and if you are sincere,
Come and meet me right here and we'll have a drink...
every hundred years."
Well, to Hob's amaze, they meet as planned, and the somber, night-eyed lord [1489]
Sips his ale as he hears Hob's tale
of the life of a wand'ring sword.
But a century on, Sir Robert Gadlen is Fortune's fair-haired boy,
[1589]
Now a family man with ships and land,
prosperity and joy...
[As refrain]
Till... there goes Hob, running from the mob,
a man who doesn't age and doesn't die. [1689]
"Sorcerer! Devil! Kill the witch!"
is the many-headed monster's cry.
For the wheel has turned, and Hob has learned
of the worst that life can give,
But he still says "No" when the stranger asks,
"Would you rather die than live?"
When next they meet, the Dream Lord learns
of the living Hob has made [1789]
In cotton, molasses, rum, and slaves
in the great Triangular Trade.
And he thinks on the dreams of guilty souls,
and warns him as they part,
"'Tis poor to live on slav'ry, Hob.
Best make a different start."
In Victoria's reign, Hob says to Dream,
"Now, what's all this to you? [1889]
There's others than me that do not die;
I know 'cos I've met a few.
You already must know how joy and woe
turn 'round as life extends,
And I dare say that you're here today
just because you need a friend."
[As refrain]
Then up jumps Dream, rising to a scream:
"Me, need one of you? How can you dare?!"
He goes out like thunder, leaving Hob to wonder
if in a hundred years he will be there.
But come that day, Hob starts to say,
"You came! I... feared 'twould end," [1989]
And Dream just answers like a natural man,
"Now, would that be any way to treat a friend?"
last modified a1311