The Woad Ode

Infobox Standard
title=The Woad Ode
comment="Woad"

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image_size=
caption=
writer=William Hope-Jones
composer="Men of Harlech"
lyricist=William Hope-Jones
published=1921, "The Hackney Scout Songbook"
written=
language=English
form=
original_artist=
recorded_by=Joe Hickerson
performed_by=
Misc=

The Woad Ode is a humorous song, set to the tune of Men of Harlech. It is not intended to be historical. It first became popular in 1920s as a song in the English Boy Scouts. [ cite web
url= http://www.rook.org/heritage/celt/pict.html
title= Our Pictish Heritage
author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors=
date= 2004-12-11 |work= |publisher=
accessdate= 2008-08-08 ] The author was William Hope-Jones, a housemaster at Eton, [ cite web
url= http://ukcommentators.blogspot.com/2007/04/national-anthem-of-ancient-britons.html
title= National Anthem of the Ancient Britons
author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors=
date= 2007-04-27 | publisher= UK Commentators
accessdate= 2008-08-08 ] who wrote it some time before 1914, as he sang it at a College dinner at that time. "Ho Jo" appears in the M.R. James' ghost story " [http://gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca/jamesX31.htm Wailing Well] " (1928), in which a group of masters take the Eton Scout Troop on an ill-fated camping expedition.

:What's the use of wearing braces?:Vests and pants and boots with laces?:Spats and hats you buy in places:Down on Brompton Road?

:What's the use of shirts of cotton?:Studs that always get forgotten?:These affairs are simply rotten,:Better far is woad.

:Woad's the stuff to show men.:Woad to scare your foemen.:Boil it to a brilliant hue:And rub it on your back and your abdomen.

:Ancient Briton ne'er did hit on:Anything as good as woad to fit on:Neck or knees or where you sit on.:Tailors you be blowed!!

:Romans came across the channel:All dressed up in tin and flannel:Half a pint of woad per man'll:Dress us more than these.

:Saxons you can waste your stitches:Building beds for bugs in britches:We have woad to clothe us which is:Not a nest for fleas

:Romans keep your armours.:Saxons your pyjamas.:Hairy coats were made for goats,:Gorillas, yaks, retriever dogs and llamas.

:Tramp up Snowdon with your woad on,:Never mind if you get rained or blowed on:Never want a button sewed on.:Go it Ancient Bs!!

(The original last line appears to have been "If you stick to Woad")

This song is also known as "Woad", "The Woad Song" and "Woad of Harlech". A filk parody version is "Code".

References

Published Versions

* Anthony Hopkins. "Songs from the Rear: Canadian Servicemen's Songs of the Second World War". 1979 ISBN 0888301715

Recordings

* "Joe Hickerson with a Gathering of Friends" Folk Legacy 2002