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about
The Prickle Holly Bush is one of those traditional songs so popular and prolific in versions and names found across the English speaking world. The song’s grim premise is that of a desperate soul about to be hung, for whom salvation arrives not in the form of their family, but in that of of their lover. Here, Goblin Band reflect on these timeless themes of estrangement, chosen family, and hope in the face of society’s structures of brutality, through the lens of queer experience in 21st Century England.
lyrics
Come slack your horse! Cries George,
Come slack it for a while!
For I think I see my Father coming over yonder stile,
Did you bring Gold? Did you bring silver to set me free?
For to save my body from the cold jail wall and me neck from the high gallows tree.
I’ve no gold! I’ve no silver to set you free!
But I have come for to see you hanging,
Hanging from the high gallows tree.
Oh the prickle holly bush it pricks it pricks
Oh it pricks my heart full sore,
And if ever I get out of the prickle holly bush,
I’ll never get in there any more.
Come slack your horse! Cries George,
Come slack it for a while!
For I think I see my Mother coming over yonder stile,
Did you bring Gold? Did you bring silver to set me free?
For to save my body from the cold jail wall and me neck from the high gallows tree.
I’ve no gold! I’ve no silver to set you free!
But I have come for to see you hanging,
Hanging from the high gallows tree.
Oh the prickle holly bush it pricks it pricks
Oh it pricks my heart full sore,
And if ever I get out of the prickle holly bush,
I’ll never get in there any more.
Come slack your horse! Cries George,
Come slack it for a while!
For I think I see my Brother coming over yonder stile,
Did you bring Gold? Did you bring silver to set me free?
For to save my body from the cold jail wall and me neck from the high gallows tree.
I’ve no gold! I’ve no silver to set you free!
But I have come for to see you hanging,
Hanging from the high gallows tree.
Oh the prickle holly bush it pricks it pricks
Oh it pricks my heart full sore,
And if ever I get out of the prickle holly bush,
I’ll never get in there any more.
Come slack your horse! Cries George,
Come slack it for a while!
For I think I see my Sister coming over yonder stile,
Did you bring Gold? Did you bring silver to set me free?
For to save my body from the cold jail wall and me neck from the high gallows tree.
I’ve no gold! I’ve no silver to set you free!
But I have come for to see you hanging,
Hanging from the high gallows tree.
Oh the prickle holly bush it pricks it pricks
Oh it pricks my heart full sore,
And if ever I get out of the prickle holly bush,
I’ll never get in there any more.
Come slack your horse! Cries George,
Come slack it for a while!
For I think I see my Sweetheart coming over yonder stile,
Did you bring Gold? Did you bring silver to set me free?
For to save my body from the cold jail wall and me neck from the high gallows tree.
I’ve no gold! I’ve no silver to set you free!
But I have come for to see you hanging,
Hanging from the high gallows tree.
Oh the prickle holly bush it pricks it pricks
Oh it pricks my heart full sore,
And now that I’m out of the prickle holly bush,
I’ll never get in there any more.
credits
released February 19, 2024
Rowan Gatherer - He/Him - Vocals
Sonny Brazil - They/Them - Vocals, Accordion
Gwenna Harman - She/Her - Vocals
Alice Beadle - She/Her - Violin
Paul Gardner - He/Him - Drums
Piran Casely - They/Them - Mandola
Recorded, Produced and mixed by Two Larks Productions, Iona Catherine and Natalie Dalcher
Goblin Band formed organically from intimate sessions of the same name run out of Hobgoblin Music, a folk instrument shop in Central London, and organised by a group of queer folk obsessive friends and shop employees.
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