The mugger's song

Driving up the Mallerstang
The mugger cracked his whip and sang
And all his crocks went rattle, rattle -
"The road runs fair and smooth and even
From Appleby to Kirkby Stephen
And womenfolk are kittle cattle.

And Kirkby Stephen's fair to see
And inns are good in Appleby,"
And all his crocks went rattle, rattle.
"But what care I for Kirkby Stephen,
Or whether roads are rough or even,
And womenfolk are kittle cattle?

And what care I for Appleby, 
Since Bess of the Blue Bell jilted me?"
And all his crocks went rattle, rattle -
"And wed today in Kirkby Stephen,
A sweep whose legs are odd and even?
And womenfolk are kittle cattle."

Submitted by Virginia Knight

Authorship

• by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878 - 1962), "The mugger's song", appears in Whin, first published 1918 [ author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "The mugger's song", 1920. [voice and piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Herbert Norman Howells (1892 - 1983), "The mugger's song", 1919. [
   text verified 1 time
  ]

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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