Greg Harper

Lyrics

CUCKMERE SHORE

Times were hard for a farming man
It was hard to make a living off the land
So by day he’d be working in the fields
But at night seek a smuggler’s yield

Molly was a good woman true and kind
She never liked that her Johnny was the smuggling kind
He’d say his horse was so fast that he could fly
But each night in her dreams Molly would cry

Ride Johnny ride better hide Johnny hide
You better run run run run from the revenue guns

Under cover of darkness Johnny rode
Met the gang at the crossroads of Jevington road
And on they crept over Baily’s Hill
To the Cuckmere shore silent and still

As the tide rolled in at the given hour
The muffled oars of the cutter approached the shore
But in the darkness something stirred
A shot rang out the last thing that Johnny heard

Was ride Johnny ride better hide Johnny hide
Better run run run run from the revenue guns
So ride Johnny ride better hide Johnny hide
Better run run run run from the revenue guns

She woke at dawn to the cockerel’s crow
No sign of Johnny in the farm below
Just his horse standing there alone
There’s no chance that Johnny’s coming home

You better run run run run from the revenue guns
So ride Johnny ride better hide Johnny hide
Better run run run run from the Revenue guns
Oh we’re the men of Sussex Sussex by the sea