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 This day for our new navigation
We banish all cares and vexation.
The sight of the barges each honest heart glads,
And the merriest of mortals are Birmingham lads!

Birmingham Lads, jovial blades,
And the merriest of mortals are Birmingham Lads!

With pride every heart must be glowing,
Stamps, presses and lathes shall be going,
The lads to the wharf with their lasses repair,
And smile at the streamers that play in the air.

Play in the air, free and fair,
And smile at the streamers that play in the air.

Let Stratford's sons boast out of measure
The fruits of their mulberry treasure.
Such treasure for once may cause Jubilee joys,
But riches spring daily from Birmingham toys.

Birmingham toys, all men praise,
And riches spring daily from Birmingham toys.

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 The Thames, Severn, Trent and the Avon
Their countrymen frequently rave on,
But none of their neighbours are happy as they
Who peacably dwell on the banks of the Rea.

Banks of the Rea, ever gay,
Who peacably dwell on the banks of the Rea.

Not Europe can match us for traffic,
America, Asia and Afric.
Of what we invent each partakes of a share,
For the best of wrought metals is Birmingham ware.

Birmingham ware, none so fair,
For the best of wrought metals is Birmingham ware.

Since by the canal navigation,
Of coals we've the best in the Nation,
Around the gay circle your bumpers then put
For the cut of all cuts is the Birmingham cut!

Birmingham cut, fairly wrought,
For the cut of all cuts is a Birmingham cut!


Notes

This song is an adaptation of lines written by John Freeth in 'Aris's Birmingham Gazette' on November 6th 1769, on the opening of the Birmingham Canal.

Stratford's sons ..... mulberry treasure: Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, is some 25 miles south of Birmingham (at the end of the Stratford Canal). A mulberry tree in the grounds of New Place, Stratford, is supposed to be the scion of one planted by Shakespeare.

Jubilee joys: the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769.

toys: small metal articles, such as buckles, buttons, etc. This is the original meaning of the word. Birmingham was at one time unrivalled in the production of a huge variety of small metal articles - and not a few large ones, too.

Banks of the Rea, ever gay: the Rea is the river on which Birmingham stands. It was never navigable, hence the reference to the Secern, the Trant, and the Avon, all of which were. The Birmingham Lads are 'gay' because they now share in the riches of inland navigation thanks to the canal. Gay is used here in its original sense of 'lightheartedly mirthful'; it cannot be used in that sense nowadays, a pity since there is no exact English equivalent.

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Rod Beavon   17 Dean's Yard     London  SW1P  3PB

e-mail: rod.beavon@westminster.org.uk