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Hard Times of Old England

[ Roud 1206 / Song Subject MAS1570 ; Ballad Index K224 ; VWML COL/6/25 ; Bodleian Roud 1206 ; Folkinfo 422 ; DT HRDTMENG ; Mudcat 115053 , 111753 ; trad.]

Bob Copper: A Song for Every Season Copper Family: The Copper Family Song Book

Hard Times of Old England is an 18^th century song from the repertoire of the Copper Family. A 1955 recording of Ron Copper made by Peter Kennedy was published in 1963 on their EFDSS LP Traditional Songs From Rottingdean and was included in 2001 on their early recordings compilation, Come Write Me Down, and in 2006 on the anthology Anthems in Eden. Another Copper Family recording from 1998 is on their CD Coppersongs 3: The Legacy Continues. Billy Bragg and The Young Coppers with Eliza Carthy and Simon Emmerson sang Hard Times of Old England Retold in 2007 on The Imagined Village’s eponymous first album, The Imagined Village, and the Young Coppers sang it in 2008 on their CD Passing Out.

The Taverners Folk Group sang The Hard Times of Old England in 1974 as the title track of their Folk Heritage album Times of Old England. This track was also included in 2022 on the Folk Heritage anthology Before the Day Is Done. They noted on their album:

The well known cycle of economic wealth to economic gloom, involving the rise and fall of industries and the collapse of trading markets, with a few wars and natural disasters thrown in for good measure, means that a labourer or tradesman of today could sing this song with as much feeling as could his ancestors a century ago. Hard Times is one of those songs that can be related to any period of British History within the last two hundred years. The war referred to for instance, could be the Napoleonic War or the Second World War—the sentiment expressed would suit both ages.

The song is somehow, neither doleful nor dirge-like. It is a song of social comment, with the last verse expressing the perennial hope of mankind, that there is a silver lining to every cloud, that good times are only just around the corner.

Zhe Etchingham Steam Band sang Hard Times of Old England at the Lenzburg Folk Festival in June 1975. A recording of this was included in 1995 on their Fledg’ling CD The Etchingham Steam Band and in 2002 on the Topic 4CD anthology The Acoustic Folk Box.

Steeleye Span recorded Hard Times of Old England for their 1975 album All Around My Hat and published it as two singles with the respective B-sides Cadgwith Anthem and Sum Waves (Tunes). This deserved to be another hit single but the lyrics were perhaps too realistically gloomy for the pre-punk area. They recorded it a second time for their CD Present to accompany the December 2002 Steeleye Span reunion tour. A live recording from between 2002 and 2006 was released in 2008 on their double CD Live at a Distance. A 2019/2023 recording was released in 2023 on their CD The Green Man Collection.

Steeleye Span’s former band member Peter Knight returned to Hard Times of Old England in 2015 on Gigspanner’s live CD Layers of Ages and in 2017 on the CD Gigpanner Big Band Live.

Martin Carthy learned Hard Times of Old England from the Copper Family. In 1975, he played guitar on this song on Roy Harris’ LP Champions of Folly. He sang it himself at a World Music Institute concert at the Triplex 1 Theater, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York City, on 4 December 1987. At the same concert, he sang Coal Not Dole with the Watersons. Both recordings were included in 2001 on The Carthy Chronicles. The compilation’s sleeve notes state:

Child may have written down the songs; Sharp may have recorded them; but the Copper family of Rottingdean kept folk songs alive in the way they should be preserved—by singing them. Much adapted and strangely contemporary, this 18^th Century song is from their repertoire.

In 1990, Carthy recorded a parody version called Hard Cheese of Old England on the Mrs Ackroyd Band’s album Oranges and Lemmings.

Heritage sang Oh the Hard Times of Old England in 1982 on their Plant Life album Living by the Air. They noted:

A chorus song of the poverty and unemployment of a bygone era (?) from the singing of the Copper family of Rottingdean in Sussex.

Whippersnapper sang Hard Times of Old England in 1985 on their album Promises.

Roy Bailey sang Hard Times of Old England in 1994 on the Band of Hope’s album Rhythm & Reds and in 1995 on his album Freedom Peacefully. The latter track was also included in 2014 on the GTFU and Topic anthology of “songs of resistance, democracy and peace”, Voice and Vision.

The New Scorpion Band sang The Hard Times of Old England in 2004 on their CD The Downfall of Pears. They noted:

From the repertoire of the famous Copper family of Rottingdean in Sussex, this is a song of protest against the Europe-wide economic depression which followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and its consequences in the English countryside. The melody and form are taken from The Roast Beef of Old England, written by Richard Leveridge, the popular composer and bass singer on the London stage during the first half of the eighteenth century.

Isambarde sang Hard Times of Old England in 2006 on their CD Barnstorming.

Chumbawamba sang Hard Times of Old England live on their 2007 album Get on With It.

This video shows Jon and The Remnant Kings performing Hard Times of Old England at the A Folk Song a Day Midsummer Concert at Cecil Sharp House, London, on 23 June 2011:

Andy Turner sang Hard Times of Old England as the 7 February 2015 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

Stick in the Wheel sang Hard Times of Old England on their 2015 CD From Here.

Marc Block sang Hard Times of Old England in 2016 on his CD Brisk & Breezy.

Jon Wilks sang Hard Times of Old England on his 2017 album Songs From the Attic. A live recording from Ace Space, Newbury on 19 January 2019 was included in 2026 as the last track of his collection of outtakes, alternate takes and live recordings, Bones. He noted:

I’d forgotten this recording existed—and that I used to play the song live at all. It appeared on my debut solo album, Songs From the Attic, arranged in an odd minor-key version that I’ve regretted ever since. Listening back, I assume that when I did play it in front of an audience, I quietly moved it away from that bluesy detour. The performance here is rough and ready, with some nervousness in both the singing and playing—I was still getting used to the CGCGCD tuning that now underpins many of my arrangements. I include it as a kind of bookend.

Kit Hawes and Aaron Catlow sang Hard Times of Old England on their 2019 CD Pill Pilots.

We Shall Ocercome (Johnny Campbell, Carol Hodge, Mikey Kenney, Phil Odgers, Katherine Priddy, Joe Solo, and Sean Taylor) sang Hard Times of Old England with new words by Johnny Campbell, on the 2020 charity single Hard Times of Old England.

Lyrics

The Copper Family sing Hard Times of Old England

Come all brother tradesmen that travel alone,
O, pray come and tell me where the trade is all gone,
Long time I have travelled and cannot find none,
And it’s O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Provisions you buy at the shop it is true,
But if you’ve no money there’s none there for you.
So what’s a poor man and his family to do?
And it’s O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

If you go to a shop and you ask for a job
They will answer you there with a shake and a nod.
That’s enough to make a poor man to turn out and rob,
And it’s O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

You will see the poor tradesmen a-walking the street
From morning till night for employment to seek.
And scarcely they have any shoes to their feet,
And it’s O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Our soldiers and sailors have just come from war,
Been fighting for their King and their country sure,
Come home to be starved better have stayed where they were,
And it’s O, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

So now to conclude and to finish my song
Let us hope that these hard times they will not last long.
And I may soon have occasion to alter my song,
And sing O, the good times of old England,
In old England very good times.

Steeleye Span sing Hard Times of Old England

Come all brother tradesmen that travel along
O pray come and tell me where the trade is all gone
Long time have I travelled and I cannot find none

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
And sing, Oh the hard times of old England
In old England very hard times

Provisions you buy at the shop it is true
But if you’ve no money there’s none there for you
So what’s a poor man and his family to do

You must go to the shop and you’ll ask for a job
They’ll answer you there with a shake and a nod
Well that’s enough to make a man turn out and rob.

You will see the poor tradesmen a walking the street
From morning till night for employment to seek
And scarce have they got any shoes on their feet

Our soldiers and sailors have just come from war
Been fighting for Queen and country this year
Come home to be starved better stayed where they were

And now to conclude and to finish my song
Let us hope that these hard times they will not last long
I hope soon to have occasion to alter my song

Final chorus:
And sing, Oh the good times of old England
In old England jolly good times

Martin Carthy sings Hard Times of Old England

This is from the Copper Family.

Now all of you tradesmen who travel alone
I’m asking you now where the work has all gone
Long time I’ve been travelling and I cannot find none

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Sing, Oh the hard times of old England
In old England very hard times

Provisions you find in the shops, it is true
But if you’ve got no money, there’s none there for you
So what are poor folk and their families to do

You go to the shop and you ask for a job
They answer you back with a shake and nod
Ain’t that enough to make someone turn out and rob

Our soldiers and sailors have just come from war
They’re fighting for Queen and for country once more
Home to be starved, better stayed where they were

And you can see our poor tradesmen out walking the street
From morning till night for employment to seek
And scarcely have they any shoes to their feet

And now to conclude and to finish my song
Is hoping these hard times will not be here long
And soon I’ll have occasion to alter my song

Final chorus:
Sing, Oh the good times of old England
In old England very good times

The Band of Hope sing Hard Times of Old England

Come all working people who travel alone
And pray come and tell me where the work has all gone
Long time I have travelled and never found none

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
And it’s oh the hard times of old England
In England very hard times

Provisions you buy from a shop, it is true
But if you’ve got no money, there’s none there for you
So what are poor folk and their families to do

You go to the shop and you ask for a job
They answer you there with a shake and nod
’Tis enough to make poor folk to turn out and rob

You see working people a-walking the street
From morning till night for employment to seek
And scarcely they have any shoes to their feet

Soldiers and sailors have just come from war
Been fighting for Queen and for country sure
Come home to be starved, better have stayed where they were

Billy Bragg and The Young Coppers sing Hard Times of Old England

For five generations, my family have farmed,
By horse and by tractor, by hoe and by hand,
But that won’t stave off the bank’s latest demand.

Chorus:
Singing, oh, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Time was, I could sell what I grew in the shop,
Then Tesco’s turned up, all of that had to stop.
Now I can’t make a living out of my crop.

More and more of our village gets sold every day
To folks from the city who are happy to pay
For their holiday cottage to stand empty all day.

The Countryside Alliance expects, I suppose,
My support when they’re marching to bloody Blair’s nose.
But they said not a word when our post office closed.

The hedgerows my grandfather tended have gone,
And with them the lapwing and the corncrake’s sad song.
I fear I’ll be carried off before long.

And now to conclude and to finish my song:
Let’s hope that these hard times they will not last long,

And I may soon have occasion for to alter my song.

Last chorus:
And sing oh, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.

Acknowledgements and Links

Martin Carthy and the Band of Hope’s versions were transcribed by Garry Gillard.

See also Jon Wilks’ March 2020 Old Songs podcast Hard Times of Old England ft. Billy Bragg.