LYRICS
"The Hartlepool Monkey"
by Alan Wilkinson
The original lyrics to The Hartlepool
Monkey were written when
Alan Wilkinson was a member of
the Teesside Fettlers folk group along with Ron Angel,
John McCoy, Ken Crawford with occasional guest spots from Rita, Ron's
wife.
Alan says: "As far as I can remember, the words are more or less as I
wrote them, but here, anyway, is a more "original" version based on my
memory."
Well, it happened up in Hartlepool, about the time that France,
And the Emperor Napoleon were leading us a dance,
The Froggies took the crew of a British man of war,
But the captain's pet monkey got washed up on the shore.
Chorus:
Old folks, young folks, everyone and each,
Come and see the Frenchie who's landed on the beach,
He's got long arms, a great long tail, he's covered all in hair,
We think that he's a spy so we'll hang him in the square.
The Lord Mayor of Hartlepool was walking on the shore,
When he came upon a funny sight, he'd never seen before,
A hairy little man was sitting in the sand,
Holding a banana in his hairy little hand.
Chorus
The Mayor he went to tell the Clerk, the clerk ran to the shore,
And there they found the little man, where he had been before.
The crowd that gathered round him thought he was the finest sight,
Since the fire at the timber yard the previous Friday night.
Chorus
Constable Parsons, hurried to the scene,
Took out his notebook and licked his pencil clean.
He said 'Causing a disturbance is a serious offence,
And everything you say will be used in evidence'.
Chorus
When the monkey answered, a funny thing occurred
Constable Parsons couldn't understand a word.
The reason for his puzzlement the Clerk could plainly see,
"This little man's a foreigner from far across the sea."
Chorus
The little man's a spy, the angry crowd did roar,
Sent over by Napoleon to invade our native shore.
They grabbed the little fellow by his long and hairy tail,
And handed him to Parsons, who hoyed him into jail.
Chorus
The little man was tried, and found to be a spy,
The judge put on his little black cap and told him, "You must die".
When he heard the verdict, he didn't turn a hair -
He was peeling a banana, and he didn't seem to care.
Chorus
So they hung the monkey from the gallows in the town,
With a rope around his neck, and his tail hanging down,
As a warning to Napoleon to make himself a rule,
Not to send his little hairy spies to old Hartlepool.
Chorus
With acknowledgement and thanks to Alan
Wilkinson for the use
of these lyrics.
Alan's current potted life story is on his website. He is now an artist
and samples of his paintings can be viewed there and he'd be delighted if you were to pay him a
visit.
The lyrics have changed slightly on The Fettlers new CD
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