Girls

[ Roud - ; Mudcat 31797 ; G. & T. Linch]

In May 1963, Decca gathered together London folkies for an all-night “hootenanny” in the studios which resulted in the LP Hootenanny in London and the EP The Thamesiders and Davy Graham. On the LP, Martin Carthy made his first solo recording singing this song, i.e. Girls, and Your Baby 'as Gorn Dahn the Plug 'Ole, which was later revived by Cream. Martin also sang End of Me Old Cigar in a duet with Redd Sullivan.

Lyrics

Martin Carthy sings Girls

In the boarding house I lived in
Everything was growing old:
Silver threads among the butter
And the cheese was green with mould.
When the dog died we had sausages,
When the cat died, catnip tea.
When the landlord died I left there,
Spare ribs were too much for me.

Now girls never can change their nature,
It is quite beyond their reach.
If a girl is born a lemon,
She can never be a peach.
But the law of compensation
Is the one I always preach:
You can always squeeze a lemon -
You ever tried to squeeze a peach?

Now the train was standing in the station
When a young man full of cares,
Rushing on to get a-boarded,
Tripped, fell headlong down the stairs.
An old lady rushed up to him, said,
“Did you miss a step, my son?”
He turned to her and said, “No, lady,
I hit every bloody one.”