[00:08.28]The Folk Society meet on Thursday nights
[00:12.84]Clear their throats and put their coughs to flight
[00:17.47]To sing the dusty cobwebs from the room
[00:21.90]A repertoire both in and out of tune
[00:26.78]Don't assume a singalong, or worse
[00:31.21]This history in song and countless verse
[00:35.93]Pays homage to the man who, long ago
[00:40.58]Collected all the songs the singers know
[00:45.22]Collected all the songs the singers know
[00:50.11]
[00:55.18]Edward Alexander, man of action
[00:59.22]Armed only with his reel-to-reel contraption
[01:03.59]One hundred years ago in mac and boots
[01:07.57]Set out to faithfully preserve the region's roots
[01:11.93]And every night in some small village inn
[01:16.40]Fortified with fortitude and gin
[01:20.70]Mr Alexander, for a shilling
[01:25.12]Would thus record your song, if you were willing
[01:29.53]Would thus record your song, if you were willing
[01:33.81]
[01:34.30]So word got round, and soon there formed a queue
[01:38.05]And the line of willing singers grew and grew
[01:42.61]Brass for oohs and aahs? You can't go wrong
[01:47.01]When there's someone paying a shilling for a song
[01:51.26]When all his tapes are filled up, Edward leaves
[01:55.82]There's a history preserved, so he believes
[02:00.18]But all the so-called singers back inside
[02:04.37]They know they took a city scholar for a ride
[02:08.78]They know they took a city scholar for a ride
[02:13.60]For they shook the man for every coin he'd got
[02:17.37]With words and tunes all made up on the spot
[02:21.76]Invented tales not twenty minutes old
[02:26.47]So history, like ale, is bought and sold.
[02:30.69]The old contraption's packed away and boxed
[02:35.09]And a century is marked upon the clock
[02:39.42]So tradition holds that Edward's great collection
[02:43.89]Is honoured with a weekly resurrection
[02:48.40]Honoured with a weekly resurrection
[02:52.70]
[02:57.66]And now the old Society sing the songs
[03:02.12]Word for word, and kept where they belong
[03:06.48]As once again, they eulogise the past
[03:11.15]You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last
[03:15.60]You can hear the ghosts of history laughing last
[03:22.28]