The Black Bonny Hare

Success is the mother of the sequel, and that's exactly what this song is.  In this case, however, it is the original that has been forgotten, rather than its - often weaker - offspring.  So whatever it was that happened on the fifteenth of April we will never know.

Words and music of The Black Bonny Hare appeared in The Ballad Of Sid Kipper, now out of print.

On the fifteenth of May, at the break of the day,

With me hare washed and brushed, to the woods I did stray;

I surely was game, and if the sportsman proved fair,

I hoped that he'd fire at my black bonny hare.

I met this young man with a breech-loader there;

Says he "I am seeking the black bonny hare.

But first, how d-you do? -  weather's nice - looks like snow".

Says I "me young sportsman, why ramble you so?"

The answer he gave me, his answer was "Oh,

They say the black bonny hare must be stalked nice and slow;"

Says I "Not so slow, for I declare and I vow

My hare's up and running, you must take your aim now".

Oh I laid myself down with my face to the skies,

I said "Pull out your ramrod and your bullets likewise;

Take the firing position, but don't shoot till you ought,

For the longer the chase, love, the better the sport".

Oh a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand,

But a shot in the dark is more the way of a man.

I felt his heart quiver, and I knew what he'd done;

Says he "Have you had enough of me old sporting gun?"

The answer I gave him, my answer was "Nay -

It's too often young sportsmen like you come this way!

You flush the hare up, but don't play the game fair;

You bang, but don't finish the black bonny hare".

"Now your ramrod is limber, your bullets all fired;

The hare it lies gasping, but has not yet expired.

Now if you are a sportsman then you'll do what you can,

And you'll finish the black bonny hare off by hand".

Copyright Chris Sugden, 1992