Lilac Sunday Ballad Twas on a Lilac Sunday In the year of '86 Newtowne went out a-tourin' With it's hankies and its sticks Unto the Arboretum Where they awaited their big chance To impress the other Morris teams With the Upton-on-Severn dance Some went right and some went left And some went up and down Some were doing back to backs And others doing rounds Heads were knocked and knuckles smashed And the audience they swore they'd never seem a Morris team Dance quite that way before Dave Stryker was the number one A brave and valiant lad To dance impressive Morris Was a passion that he had He gave it a few seconds And thought "what the hell" Instead of calling figures I'll just give a macho yell Now Stryker's sense of Morris It was second unto none And it would have been impressive Had the dance been smartly done But he made one grievous error Understandable but true He thought if Newtowne danced a dance It was a dance they knew The men danced the first figure And they danced it rather well With their ribbons fluttering in the air And the jingling of their bells Then came the second figure And they awaited Strkyer's call And Dave threw back his head And bellowed "Hanabuajall!" But Dave was not discouraged He didn't give up yet He knew that deep down inside them There was good stuff in this set "Perhaps if I yell louder They will get the right idea" So when the next figure came around He yelled "Mgzuhdea" The men they were embarrassed The men they were ashamed But after several pints of beer Their spirits they regained They even forgave Stryker But one thing has changed, it's true When Newtowne dances Upton Stryker dances number two The ballad was written by Oren Rosenthal, a member of long standing of the Newts (Newtowne Morris Men).EL JY
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