Lyrics

In Thorneymoor Woods in Nottinghamshire Thorneymoor Woods in Nottinghamshire Three game-keepers' houses they stood three-square About a mile from each other they were The riders were to look after the Nottingham deer Fol tora lie ay Now me and my dogs we went out one night The moon and the stars were shining bright Over hedges and ditches and fields and stiles With my three fine dogs trotting close by my heels To catch a fat buck down in Thorneymoor fields Fol tora lie ay Well that very first night we had bad luck For one of me very best dogs got shot He come to me all bloody and lame Right sorry was I to see the same For he was not able to follow the game Fol tora lie ay I searched his wounds and I found them slight Some game-keeper's done this out of spite So I'll take a pike right tight in me hand And I'll range the woods till I find that man I'll thrash his old hide right well if I can Fol tora lie ay Now I went home and I went to bed And Limping Jack went out in my stead Over hedges and ditches and fields and stiles He found a fat buck lying down on the ground It was my little dog has gave him the death-wound Fol tora lie ay And Limping Jack he cut the buck's throat And he tied the buck's legs with good stout rope And I had a laugh to see Limping Jack Go bouncing along with that buck on his back Carried it just like some Yorkshireman's pack Fol tora lie ay Now we hired a butcher to skin the game Likewise another to sell the same And the very first joint that we offered for sale Was to an old old hag who sold bad ale She hired us young lads up in Nottingham gaol Fol tora lie ay And Nottingham trials are due and nigh Us three young lads we go to be tried But the magistrate threw it all to scorn He says such an old, old bugger should be forsworn Into tiny pieces she out to be torn Fol tora lie ay And Nottingham trials are gone and past And us three young lads go free at last But the bucks and the does will never roam free A poacher's life is the life for me A poacher I will always be Fol tora lie ay Now I had my fill of the field for the day Tomorrow quite likely be four fields away Yet the Landowner tells you she's my property A buck or a doe is a doe for me A poacher's life is the life for me A poacher I will always be Fol tora lie ay