Overture
No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "Brushes and Brooms"
Sopranos: | Brushes and brooms, brushes and brooms, Sweeping the corridors, dusting the rooms, Up with the lark, to work with the sun, Candles are lighted before she is done, Up with the lark, to work with the sun, Candles are lighted before she is done, Candles are lighted before she is done. |
Contraltos: | Yes, to bake and to brew
and to wash and to spin, That's part of the work of a maid at the Inn. |
Sopranos: | Yes, to bake and to brew, |
Both: | And to wash and to spin, That's part of the work of a maid at the Inn. |
Housekeeper: | Come, none of that complaining; Be thankful for your training; Bring pail and mop and never stop While any dirt's remaining. |
Girls: | To sweep up the dust
and to scrape out the grease, There's work for all hands if we'd twenty a-piece. |
Head Groom: | Dickon, plait the filly's mane. Tom, rub down the roan, Shake the hay and fetch the grain. Call the master Owen. |
Girls: | Call the master Owen. |
Men: | We've twenty horses to feed and groom. |
Girls: | Stand out of the way of the mops and the broom. |
Men: | And we've twenty feeds of oats to screen, |
Girls: | And we've twenty rooms to sweep and clean, |
Men: | We've bits to polish and stirrups to rub, |
Girls: | We've bells to answer and stairs to scrub, |
Men: | We've twenty saddles or more to girth, |
Girls: | To idle's as much as our lives are worth. |
Men: | For the Coverdale hounds meet here today, And we've twenty horses and maybe more To groom hiss... |
Girls: | Yes, to groom, |
Men: | And to feed soh-ho soh-ho Yes to groom hiss... |
Girls: | Yes to groom, |
Men: | and to feed soh-ho soh-ho |
All: | And to tighten their girths, ere they ride away From the Coverdale Arms and its big front door. |
Page modified 5 January 2017