Wednesday, 20 June 2007

On Finding the Studio Banjo [Saucy Haulage Ballads]

Unemployment's rising in the Chigley part of town
And it's spreading like pneumonia
Doesn't look like going down
There's trouble at the fire station
Someone's had the sack
And the lad's are going to launch a scheme
To get rid of Captain Flack

Tell PC McGarry to get himself a mate
And arm themselves with CS gas
They're going to be out late

We've had Cant Conformism since 1966
And now subversions in the air
In the shape of flying bricks

Someone get a message through to Captain Snort
That they better start assembling the boys from the fort
And keep Mrs Honeyman right out of sight
'Cos there's going to be a riot down in Trumpton tonight

All this aristocracy has really got to stop
We could overthrow the surgery
And Kidnap Dr Mopp

Then Chippy Minton's Socialists
Could storm the market square
And make plans to assasinate
Our autocratic mayor

Windy Militant leads his Basque-like
Corngrinders to war
With windmill sails and bombs with nails
They smash the Town Hall door
But Snorty and his boys arrive with one big erstwhile crew
Whereupon they bring about a military coup

Someone get a message through to Captain Snort
That they better start assembling the boys from the fort
And keep Mrs Honeyman right out of sight
'Cos there's going to be a riot down in Trumpton tonight

Monkey Man adds:

A 2003 reworking of the 1986 original "Trumpton Riots " the lyrics are taken from the CD "Back in the D.H.S.S. /Trumpton Riots EP

3 comments:

  1. excellent - thanks for this very useful compendium!

    One correction:

    'Then Chigley Militant Socialists
    storm the market square'

    Chigley being the neighbouring town to Trumpton as I recall, which even had it's own spin-off series.

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  2. Hey Psylophone,

    Yep that makes sense except that the lyrics are printed in the cd booklet that comes with the "Back in the D.H.S.S" cd and clearly show "Chippy Minton".

    He's the Trumpton carpenter (hence "chippy" as his forename") and that makes even more sense.

    Still, having printed lyrics to refer to with a HMHB album is a rarity!

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  3. And Chigley was a neighbour to Trumpton albeit a very sleepy neighbour. In fact it was a bit like Eastbourne. Without the sea. Just old people.

    ReplyDelete