The Song Collector-Chumbawamba

[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]