Goodbye To the Thirty-Foot Trailer

By Ewan MacColl

Cofeescup singin' like an angel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKtl4S...
An explanation of shawing from the Mudcat forum (a folk music forum): http://www.mudcat.org/detail_pf.cfm?m...

A - - - / - - - E / A E A D / A - E7 A
The auld ways are changing, ye canna deny
The day o the traveller's over
There's nowhere tae gang and there's nowhere tae bide
Sae fareweel tae the life o the rover

Or,
The old ways are changing, you cannot deny
The day of the traveller's over
There's nowhere to go and there's nowhere to bide
And farewell to the life of the rover

Chorus:
A - D E / / A - E7 A
So goodbye to the tent and the old caravan
To the tinker, the gypsy, the travelling man
And goodbye to the thirty-foot trailer

Fareweel to the cant and the travelling tongue
Fareweel to the Romany talking
The buying and selling, the old fortune telling
The knock on the door and the hawking

You've got to move fast to keep up wi' the times
For these days a man canna daunder
There's a by-law to say ye maun be on your way
And another to say you can't wander

Fareweel to the besoms of heather and broom
Fareweel to the creels and the basket
The folks o' today they would far sooner pay
For a thing that's been made oot o' plastic

The old ways are passing and soon they'll be gone
For progress is aye a big factor
It's sent to afflict us and when they evict us
They tow us away wi' a tractor

Fareweel to the pony, the cob and the mare
Th reins and the harness are idle
You don't need the strap when you're breaking up scrap
So fareweel to the bit and the bridle

Fareweel to the fields where we've sweated and toiled
At pulling and shawing and lifting
They'll soon hae machines and the travelling quaens
And their menfolk had better be shifting