Turpin Hero (Roud 621) - Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

D**k Turpin and the Lawyer / Bold Turpin Hero / Turpin's Valour / The Dunghill-C**k / Turpin Hero (Roud No. 621) - Sung by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger on "Bad Lads and Hard Cases - British Ballads of Crime and Criminals" (1957). Liner Notes: According to Chappell writing in Popular Music of the Olden Time this ballad was written in 1739, just before Turpin was executed. There are several broadside versions of it, the oldest of which is contained in a pamphlet entitled The Dunghill C**k, or Turpin's Valiant Exploits. Song transcription: On Hounslow Heath as I rode o'er I spied a lawyer riding before. "Kind sir," said I, "ain't you afraid, Of Turpin, that mischievous blade?" Chorus (repeated after each verse): O rare Turpin hero, O rare Turpin O Said Turpin, "He'd ne'er find me out I've hid my money in my boot." Says the lawyer, "There's none can find Me gold for it's stitched in me cape behind." As they rode down by the powder mill Turpin commands him to be still; Says he, "Your cape I must cut off, For my mare she wants a saddle cloth." As Turpin rode in search of prey He met an excise man on the way Then boldly he did bid him stand Your gold he said I do demand Turpin then without remorse Soon knocked him quite from off his horse And left him on the ground to sprawl So he rode off with his gold and all So he rode over Salisbury Plain He met lord judge with all his train Then hero-like he did approach And robbed the judge as he sat in his coach For the shooting of a dung-hill c**k Poor Turpin now at last he's took And carried straight into a jail Where his ill luck he does bewail Now Turpin is condemned to die To hang upon yon gallows high His legacy is a strong rope For stealing a poor dung-hill c**k

Added 14 Jun 2026