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You Are Old Father William

from Lear and Carroll by Toby Darling

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about

By Lewis Carroll

lyrics

Father William (Lewis Carrol)

Intro: verse instrumental

F#m C#m B A
"You are old, father William," the young man said,
F#m A C#m
"And your hair has become very white;
F#m C#m B A
And yet you incessantly stand on your head —
F#m A B7
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

G Bm C D
"In my youth," father William replied to his son,
Em G D
"I feared it would injure the brain;
G D C Bm
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
C G Am
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door —
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment — one shilling the box —
Allow me to sell you a couple."

F#m Bm F#m Bm
"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
A C#m F#m
For anything tougher than suet;
A Bm C#m D
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak —
A F#m B7
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

C D G Em
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
Bm Em G A
And argued each case with my wife;
Bm F#m Bm F#m
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
A Bm C#7
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth; one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose —
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!" [end on A7]

Verse 1 and 2 instrumental end on G

credits

from Lear and Carroll, released June 22, 2015
poem by Carroll
Music by Toby Darling

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Toby Darling Penang, Malaysia

Amateur enthusiast.
Feel free to do anything you want with these tracks, I am not interested in making money from music.

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