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Reynard the Fox / Tally-ho! Hark away!

[ Roud 2349 ; Ballad Index DTReynrd ; trad.]

Sweeney’s Men sang Reynard the Fox in 1968 on their eponymous Transatlantic album Sweeney’s Men.

This song has the same “Tally-ho! Hark Away” chorus as The Huntsman (Raud 1182) but the lyrics are more focused on the fate of the fox.

Lyrics

Sweenes’s Men sing Reynard the Fox

On the first day of March in the year of ninety-three
The first recreation was in this country,
The King’s County gentlemen o’er hills, dales and rocks
They rode so joyfuly in search of a fox.

Chorus (after each verse):
Tally-ho! Hark away! Tally-ho! Hark away!
Tally-ho! Hark away! My boys away, hark away!

When Reynard was started he faced Tullamore
And Arklow and Wicklow along the sea shore,
We kept his brush in view every yard of the way
And it’s straight he made his course for the street of Rosstrade.

For Reynard, sly Reynard lay hid there that night
And we swore we would watch him until the daylight.
Next morning early the hills did resound
Of the sweet smell of horses and the sweet cry of hounds.

When Reynard was started he faced to the hollow
Where none but the footmen and hounds they could follow.
The gentlemen cried, “Watch him, watch him, what will he do?
If the rocks do not stop him he will cross Killaloe.”

When Reynard was captured his wishes to fulfill
He sent for pen and paper and ink to write his will.
And what he made mention of, we found it no thank
For he gave us a cheque on the National Bank.

“O to you, Mr Casey, I leave my whole estate,
And to you, Mr Johnson, my money and my plate.
I give to you, Sir Monaghan, my whips, spurs and cap,
For you jumped hedge and ditches and ne’er looked for a gap.”