Tom Faggus from Jenny's Mermaid by Barron Brady
Tom Faggus
Tom Faggus was a Devonshire miscreant but began his career as an upstanding blacksmith at Exmoor. He was to have married a local girl but shortly before the wedding he won a prestigious blacksmithing competition which so enraged his rivals that they conspired against him successfully. The final straw came when the destitute Tom was dumped by his girlfriend. Tom vowed society would p ay for his treatment and he became an audacious highwayman. Like that other rogue, Dick Turpin, he had a famous horse, an intelligent strawberry roan called Winnie. His gun can be viewed in Barnstaple museum
Tracklist
| 6. | Tom Faggus | 3:59 |
Lyrics
Good day to you fair ladies; sirs to you the same
I am the famous highwayman Tom Faggus is my name
Consign to me your sovereigns they do me so delight:
And here is a brace of pistols for to convince you of my right
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
In Devonshire at North Molton I was born and raised
As the village blacksmith I flourished in my trade
But jealousy was pit against me causing me to rove
And now I ply my trade on this Royal Forest road
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
Now mark this roan I ride on: Winnie is her name
And many’s the time that but for her I’d be beneath the clay
Her hooves have kicked the guns away and broken down the doors
Never a man more blessed in choice than when I chose this horse
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
It’s up on the heath at Exmoor I live by wit and nerve
And never a shilling will I take from those that don’t deserve
I’ll rob the lord of all his gold but never take his life
Whistle up my strawberry roan and ride into the night
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
They set up a gang to take me by force at Exford Bridge
I came upon them in haste all through the morning mist
Pray let me join you in this deed I quickly said to them
They never once suspected me to be the very man
'Now look to your guns', I told them 'for the powder’s surely damp;
Fire them off and reload them to be confident'
And after each had fired his piece I stood and brandished mine
'Deliver up your gold to me Tom Faggus is my name!'
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
But then it fell out one day when I came to Barnum Bridge
And chasing up behind me there were twenty volunteers
And as I flew across that span thinking to be free
Twenty more came up the road that lay in front of me.
I whispered into Winnie's ear and pat her on the neck
I turned her from the enemy to the parapet
Then as I fired my flintlock out we jumped over the edge...
They saw Tom Faggus fly away from the middle of Barnum Bridge
My Kingdom is the highway that winds across the heath
I am a robber gentleman a charmer and a thief
