[shucky2011]

Come All You Travellers

Hi guys, here is another song ive written recently (though im still working on the music).  I was inspired by a documentary i watched on channel 4 about the gypsy bareknuckle fighting tradition in Britain.  I have left in the chords and some performance notes ideas to give a better idea of what the song is meant to sound like but as i said, i haven't finalised anything yet.  Any tips on the lyrics etc would be very welcome. 

Thanks


Chorus (Unaccompanied Singing):

Now come all you travellers, with your young lads
Beg no apologies for raising your hands
All we have is our law and the land
All we have is our law and the land
(Maybe start the strumming build up to 1st verse here)

Verse 1

CGC
Didn’t I gave you a go-ol-den band
CGC
To wear when I'm out gone roving
CGCF
And haven’t i duelled with every young man
CGFC
Wherever they start  a-mo-oa-ning

Am
We outflank the other firm
Em
And shank em in the dark...
Am Em
And send down to our bredren all them faint at heart
(Rising Strumming Sound/Tempo)

Chorus

C          Am
Now come all you travellers, with your young lads
C         F
Beg no apologies, for raising your hands
G      C
All we have is our law and the land

Verse 2:

CGC
They say nought knows me but my mother
CFCG
And does I even know myself
cgc
For when the rage, takes upon me... well...
fgc
What I do ull drag me down to hell...

Am
We outflank the other firm
Em
And shank em in the dark
Am Em
And send down to our bredren all the weak at heart
(Rising Strumming Sound etc)
(Rising drum beat)

Chorus:

C          Am
So come all you travellers, with your young lads
C         F
Beg no apologies, when raising your hands
G      C
For all we have is our law and the land
G      C
All we have is our law and the land

Verse 3:

cgc
But whenever i see your friends balling
cfcg
For my pals who've been and then gone
cgcf
I might truly say, I give up fightin today
cgc
Then go chasing sraps worthy of a song

Am
So we outflank the other firm
em
And shank em in the dark
Am em
And send down to our bredren all the faint at heart

Chorus

C          Am
So come all you travellers, with your young lads
C         F
Beg no apologies, when raising your hands
G      C
All we have is our law and the land
G      C
All we have is our law and the land
G      C
All we have........ is our law..... and the land

(C strumming pattern & fade out)

[Paul]

Hiya Shucky,

This is an interesting idea for a song.  I read 'King of The Gypsies' about the bare knuckle fighter Bartley Gorman earlier this year. it was an excellent book. I later stumbled upon a song called 'lord of The Lanes' about the same chap which was excellent though I don't recall the name of the band that wrote and performed the song.

It's always refreshing when a writer tackles subjects that haven't been extensively covered before.  Your lyrics struck a chord with me as i was able to clearly recall the life story of Bartley Gorman.  I hope that you get around to recording this song, even if it's just a vocal with guitar.  It's often much easier to critique when the lyrics are accompanied by  a melody and a framework of chords.

In the meantime, well done for presenting this idea.  I think that you'll have a much better idea of how well these lyrics work when you have that definite melody to present to accompany the harmony.

Thanks for sharing.

[The Corsair]

I think these are some of the nicer lyrics I've read here. They don't have some hidden, deep meaning and it works perfectly well. You just tell a story a lot of people haven't heard and you tell it well, which isn't easy to do.

They have a good clear structure (it reads like a song) and it's clear you have an intended direction for it musically. All up, good stuff

[travis]

Hi
A good story and a unique way of presenting it too. I've been on many lyric forums and not seen the chords/ music along with the words before.
Well thought out.I'll have a strum later
Travis