The Song
The story was made into a song (Roud #2337), written in 1867 by C M Leumane (it has now passed into oral tradition and has several slightly different variants). The dialect is most effective when sung in a regional Mackem accent.
(There are several words in the song which readers unfamiliar with the local dialect may not understand. They are picked out in bold type and translated at the end of the relevant line.)
| One Sunda morn young Lambton went | |
| A-fishing in the Wear; | |
| An' catched a fish upon he's heuk | (=caught) (=his hook) |
| He thowt leuk't vary queer. | (=thought looked very strange) |
| But whatt'n a kind ov fish it was | (=what kind of) |
| Young Lambton cudden't tell- | |
| He waddn't fash te carry'd hyem, | (=could not be bothered to carry it home) |
| So he hoyed it doon a well | (=threw it down) |
| Chorus | |
| Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs, | (=Be quiet, boys, shut your mouths) |
| An' aa'll tell ye aall an aaful story, | (=I'll tell you all an awful) |
| Whisht! lads, haad yor gobs, | |
| An' Aa'll tel ye 'boot the worm. | (=about) |
| Noo Lambton felt inclined te gan | (=go) |
| An' fight i' foreign wars. | |
| He joined a troop ov Knights that cared | |
| For nowther woonds nor scars, | (=neither wounds) |
| An' off he went te Palestine | |
| Where queer things him befel, | |
| An varry seun forgat aboot | (=very soon forgot about) |
| The queer worm i' tha well. | |
| But the worm got fat an' grewed an' grewed, | |
| An' grewed an aaful size; | |
| He'd greet big teeth, a greet big gob, | |
| An greet big goggly eyes. | |
| An' when at neets he craaled aboot | (=nights) (=crawled around) |
| Te pick up bits o' news, | |
| If he felt dry upon the road, | |
| He'd milk a dozen coos. | (=cows) |
| This feorful worm would often feed | (=fearful) |
| On caalves an' lambs an' sheep, | |
| An' swally little bairns alive | (=swallow) (=children) |
| When they laid doon te sleep. | |
| An when he'd eaten aall he cud | (=all he could) |
| An' he had had he's fill, | |
| He craaled away an' lapped he's tail | (=wrapped) |
| Ten times roond Pensha Hill. | |
| The news ov this myest aaful worm | (=most) |
| An' his queer gannins on | (=goings-on) |
| Seun crossed the seas, gat te the ears | (=soon) (=got to) |
| Ov brave an' bowld Sor John. | |
| So hyem he cam an' catched the beast, | (=home he came and caught) |
| An' cut 'im in twe haalves, | (=cut him in two halves) |
| An' that seun stopped hes eatin' bairns | |
| An' sheep an' lambs an' caalves. | |
| So noo ye knaa hoo aall the foaks | (=now you know how all the folk) |
| On byeth sides ov the Wear | (=both) |
| Lost lots o' sheep an' lots o' sleep | |
| An leeved i' mortal feor. | (=And lived in mortal fear) |
| So let's hev one te brave Sor John | (=let's drink to brave Sir John) |
| That kept the bairns frae harm, | (=from) |
| Saved coos an' calves by myekin' haalves | (=making halves) |
| O' the famis Lambton Worm. | (=famous) |
You can listen to the song here and stream it here and here's a YouTube Video of the song
Read more about this topic: Lambton Worm
Famous quotes containing the word song:
“but you are not deaf,
you pick out
your own song from the uproar
line by line,
and at last throw back
your head and sing it.”
—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)
“There’s something wonderfully exciting about the quiet sing song of an aeroplane overhead with all the guns in creation lighting out at it, and searchlights feeling their way across the sky like antennae, and the earth shaking snort of the bombs and the whimper of shrapnel pieces when they come down to patter on the roof.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)