Max Boyce – Hymns and Arias Lyrics

Album on Live at Treorchy

Hymns and Arias Lyrics

We paid our weekly shilling for that January trip:
A long weekend in London, aye, without a bit of kip
There’s a seat reserved for beer by the boys from Abercarn:
There’s beer, pontoon, crisps and fags and a croakin ‘Calon Lan’

And we were singing hymns and arias
‘Land of my Fathers’, ‘Ar hyd y nos’

Into Paddington we did roll with an empty crate of ale
Will had lost at cards and now his Western Mail’s for sale
But Will is very happy though his money all has gone:
He swapped five photos of his wife for one of Barry John

And we were singing hymns and arias
‘Land of my Fathers’, ‘Ar hyd y nos’

We got to Twickers early and were jostled in the crowd;
Planted leeks and dragons, looked for toilets all around
So many there we couldn’t budge -twisted legs and pale:
I’m ashamed we used a bottle that once held bitter ale

And we were singing hymns and arias
‘Land of my Fathers’, ‘Ar hyd y nos’

Wales defeated England in a fast and open game
We sang ‘Cwm Rhondda’ and ‘Delilah’
Damn, they sounded both the same
We sympathised with an Englishman
Whose team was doomed to fail
So we gave him that old bottle, that once held bitter ale!

He started singing hymns and arias
‘Land of my Fathers’, ‘Ar hyd y nos’

So it’s down to Soho for the night
To the girls with the shiny beads;
To the funny men with lipstick on
With evil minds and deeds
One said to Will from a doorway dark
Damn, she didn’t have much on
But Will knew what she wanted
Aye… his photo of Barry John!

‘Cos she was singing hymns and arias
‘Land of my Fathers’, ‘Ar hyd y nos’