The Breeches
(Words from broadside HERE, from Bodleian Library;
adapted and given melody by Simon Barron and Rosalind Brady)
Now I often heard Bill’s wife declare
That the breeches she whould wear
And that with him she would resist
To fight with him both nail and fist
To gain to gain the breeches
One day while they were at their striving
To be the master there
A knock it came upon the door
It made them for a while to give o’er
A fighting for the breeches
Bill went to see what the business was
It’s the master that I want
To see him sir I’m sure you can’t
Until he has got his breeches on
Until he has on his breeches
My wife and me we can’t agree
And the business you shall see
And in a little time or so
It’s then the master you will know
And who is to wear the breeches
So they set to with an equal rage
Like a hammer and a blade
At length poor Bill was forced to yield
And soundly drubbed he quits the field
And now he has lost the breeches
And then she went out to the door
Where her husband was before
Your business sir I pray said she
For I am the master here you see
And now I will wear the breeches