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We'll All Go A-Hunting Today

by W. Wilson

Sung by the Watersons (Mike Waterson leading, Lal and Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy on chorus) on their LP and CD Green Fields.

A.L. Lloyd said in the Green Fields sleeve notes:

Those pink-coated upper class savages look dashing enough as they go bellowing over the meadows on their thundering beasts, though it seems rough on the fox, racing in terror for mile on mile, and wiping a bloody fox's tail across a little girl's face is one of the uglier rites of initiation. Still, the hunt provided a bit of excitement for villagers, and many pretty good songs have come from it, sometimes made by the squire and his friends rather than by the traditional folk song makers. This is another song that David Hillery got from Jack Beeforth, the North Yorks singer.

Greer Gilman and Bob Hudson note:

Concerning this song, Roy Palmer notes in his Everyman's Book of English Country Songs (213), "This splendid celebration of the pleasures of fox-hunting will not please those who oppose the sport. It was a firm favourite, from Cornwall to Cumberland, in the early years of the 20th century, having been written just about in between for the North Warwickshire Hunt. The composer was one W. Wilson, but I have been unable to find any more details of him."Text: Woods, Oxford Book of English Traditional Verse, no. 237.

What a fine hunting day, it's as balmy as May,
When the hounds to our village did come.
Every friend will be there, and all troubles and care
Will be left far behind them at home.
See servants and steeds on their way
And sportsmen in scarlet display.
Let us join the glad throng that goes laughing along
And we'll all go a-hunting today
Chorus
So we'll all go a-hunting today
All nature looks smiling and gay
Let us join the glad throng
That goes laughing along
And we'll all go a-hunting today

Farmer Hodge to his dame says, I'm sixty and lame
Times are hard and my rent I must pay;
But I don't give a jot if I raise it or not
For I must go a-hunting today
There's a fox in the spinney they say
We'll find him and have him away;
I'll be first in the rush, I shall ride for his brush,
For I must go a-hunting today.

As the judge sits in court, he gets wind of the sport
And he calls the whole court to adjourn
As no witness had come and there's none left at home--
They have gone with the hounds and the horn.
He says, Heavy fines you must pay
If you will not your summons obey.
It is very fine sport, so we'll wind up the court
And we'll all go a-hunting today.

And the village bells chime, there's a wedding at nine
When the parson unites the fond pair.
When he heard the sweet sound of the horn and the hound
And he knew it was time to be there.
He says, For your welfare I pray,
I regret I can no longer stay;
You've been safely made one, we must quickly be gone
For we must go a-hunting today.

None were left in the lurch, for all friends were at church
With the beadle and clerk and aye all,
All determined to go and to shout tally-ho,
And the ringers all joined in the rear.
With the bride and bridegroom in array
They one to the other did say,
Let us join the glad throng that goes laughing along
And we'll all go a-hunting today.

There's the doctor in boots to a breakfast that suits
Of home-brewed ale and good beef
To his patients he says, I've come once again
To consult you in hopes of relief.
To the poor, his advice he gave 'way;
To the rich, he prescribed 'em to pay.
But to each one he said, You will quickly be dead
If you don't go a-hunting today.

And there's only one cure for a malady, sure
Which reaches the heart to adjure
It's the sound of the horn on a fine hunting morn
And where is the heart wishing more?
For it turneth the grave into gay
Makes pain into pleasure give way
Makes the old become young and the weak become strong
If they'll all go a-hunting today.

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