Rabbit Pie

Lyrics

When Ah was a lad on Ramsdaleside,
Not much ti eeat they did provide,
Some fatty bacon, an awd deead yow,
A sup o’ milk from t’ little roan cow,
And we lived on rabbit pie.

Chorus:
It’s rabbit pie, rabbit pie, it’s allus rabbit pie,
Oh, aye! (forcefully)
Rabbit pie, rabbit pie, it’s rabbit pie or die.

2
We ’ad it hot, we ’ad it cawd,
With piecrust soft an’ piecrust ’ard,
We ’ad it at dinner, we ’ad it at tea,
We ’ad it at break’ast, believe you, me.
I hated rabbit pie!

3
Me father were allus out wi’ t’ gun,
Wi’ sniggles an’ dogs ’e ’ad great fun,
Sometimes ’e’d fill an eight-steean sack;
We’d devils ti skin when ’e got back,
Ti mak oor rabbit pie.

4
Ah went ti t’ Ives ti thresh some wheeat;
Ah thowt she’d give us beef ti eeat;
Me heart did sink when she did say,
“Ah’ve med you lads a t(h)reeat tiday,
Ah’ve med a rabbit pie!”

5
Noo there’s not monny rabbits oot at sea,
Sae Ah joins up inti t’ Royal Navy;
But thowts is with me night an’ day,
A nightmare just weean’t go away;
Ah dream of rabbit pie.

6
So it’s rabbits young an’ rabbits awd,
Rabbits ’ot an’ rabbits cawd,
Rabbits tender an’ rabbits tough,
We thank thee, Lord, we’ve ’ad enough,
Enough of rabbit pie.
 

Provenance

Another from the mighty pen of John Greaves! John took inspiration for this from the following:

Rabbits young and rabbits old, rabbits hot and rabbits cold,
Rabbits tender and rabbits tough,
We thank thee, Lord,
We’ve had enough!

“Dunn and Dusted” by Paul Dunn p21

Farmers’ money and resources went firstly to feeding the livestock and money was always tight. Rabbits by and large were in plentiful supply, just had to be caught and then skinned and cooked! Along with freshly grown vegetables a diet was maintained and everyone fed on monotonous rabbit pie!
 

Archival information

TYG:	108
Key:
Time Signature:
Roud id:
Laws id:
Master title:	Rabbit Pie
Places Cited in Lyrics:	Ramsdaleside