Sporting Melodies

To Lords on Saturday, complete with the wife and her bad foot. A very happy day’s cricket, although the new brother-in-law needed educating about the traditional Lancashire anthem which rang around the ground as Dominic Cork swept a Robin Martin-Jenkins delivery to the mid-wicket boundary. “What are they singing?” he asked, with the bemusement that comes only from someone who knows all the words to Sussex by the Sea. Well the correct answer is of course that they are not singing, they are chanting the refrain – Ow, Lanky, Lanky, Lanky; Lanky Lanky Lanky Lancashire.

For my readers who do not know the words, Sussex by the Sea goes something like this:

Now is the time for marching,
Now let your hearts be gay,
Hark to the merry bugles
Sounding along our way.
So let your voices ring my boys,
And take the time from me,
And I'll sing you a song as we march along,
Of Sussex by the Sea! For...

(chorus)
We're the men from Sussex, Sussex by the Sea.
We plough and sow and reap and mow,
And useful men are we;
And when you go to Sussex,
Whoever you may be,
You may tell them all that we stand or fall
For Sussex by the Sea !
Oh Sussex, Sussex by the Sea !
Good old Sussex by the Sea !
You may tell them all that we stand or fall,
For Sussex by the Sea

Up in the morning early,
Start at the break of day;
March till the evening shadows
Tell us it's time to stay.
We're always moving on my boys,
So take the time from me,
And sing this song as we march along,
Of Sussex by theSea. For ...

(chorus)

Sometimes your feet are weary,
Sometimes the way is long,
Sometimes the day is dreary,
Sometimes the world goes wrong;
But if you let your voices ring,
Your care will fly away,
So we'll sing a song as we march along,
Of Sussex by the Sea. For . . .

(chorus)

Light is the love of a soldier,
That's what the ladies say,
Lightly he goes a wooing,
Lightly he rides away.
In love and war we always are
As fair as fair can be,
And a soldier boy is a lady's joy
In Sussex by the Sea. For ...

(chorus)

Far o'er the seas we wander,
Wide thro' the world we roam;
Far from the kind hearts yonder,
Far from our dear old home;
But ne'er shall we forget my boys,
And true we'll ever be
To the girls so kind that we left behind
In Sussex by the Sea

Despite all this Sussex managed to win the match due, in no small measure, to the superb bowling of James Kirtley. I must remember to ask the older brother for a rendition of Ipswich football anthems (of which there is a CD available from the supporters club). The daughter won’t be particularly informative about Portsmouth FC chants. If Pompey songs exist at all they are probably foul-mouthed and unprintable.