Hay! Do The Morris
"Every new dance craze have a song what go with it and that was as true in the old days as it is tomorrow. There's were lots of them, like 'Let's Gavotte Again, Like We Did Last Autumn', and 'When You Finish The Finnish'. But with the dances having died out, you don't hear the songs no more.
"This song is the one what started the morris dancing craze. It does tend to upset some morris dancers, mainly due to the first line. Some of them can turn quite ugly. Some can't, of course. Mind you, I don't see why - I mean, it look easy enough to me - even if some of them do manage to make it look difficult!"
Sid Kipper
Here's
a dance that's easy to do,
And
it'll make you fertile too.
With
breeches white, and a hat from the florist,
Now
get ready to do the morris
Hay! do the morris dance;
Hay!
let's process and prance;
Up
and down and round and round,
Until
you fall down on the ground.
Pick
your bells and sticks up quick,
'Cos
now we're going to get rustic
Get
some drunks to play a tune,
And
you'll be morris dancing soon.
Tuck
your trousers in your socks,
Grow
a beard and wear a smock;
Drink
till you can hardly stand,
And
now you are a morris man.
Now
a fool we will need too -
Any
one of you will do.
Let
him be nimble, let him be quick,
Let
him wave his bladder on a stick.
First
you take your handky out,
Put
it in, then shake it about.
Hit
each other with your sticks,
And
that is all there is to it.
While
you take part in this frolic
Remember
that it's all symbolic.
You'll
bless the crops and speed the plough,
And
all by jumping up and down.
Copyright Chris Sugden, 1993