Lyrics

Come, all ye colliers far and near I'll tell of a cock-fight, when and where Out on the moors I heard them say Between a black and the bonny grey It's into the pub to take a sup The cock-fight it was soon made up: For twenty pound these cocks will play The charcoal-black and the bonny grey The first come in was the Oldham lads; And they come with all the money they had; The reason why, they all of them did say "The black's too big for the bonny grey." The Oldham lads stood shouting round: "I'll lay you a quid to half a crown If our black cock he gets fair play He'll make mincemeat of the bonny grey!" So the cocks they at it, and the grey was tossed And the Oldham lads said, "Bah, you've lost!" Us collier lads we went right pale And wished we'd fought for a barrel of ale And the cocks they at it, one, two, three And the charcoal-black got struck in the eye And they picked him up, but the devil wouldn't play And the cock-fight went to our bonny grey With the silver breast and the silver wing He's fit to fight in front of the king So hip hooray, hooray, hooray! Away we carried our bonny grey