Pillicock

Lyrics

[Intro]
[Verse 1]
The censor's ink was heavy on the page.
A line of iron drawn across the wood.
You cannot bring the alley to the stage,
Not where the quiet gentlewomen wait.
So I must wear the blanket and the straw,
And hide the common danger in a moan.
To slip a tiny darling past the law,
I feign a madness I have never known.

[Chorus]
He sits upon his hill, the little king.
A pampered child, a bauble for the crowd.
I keep him safe beneath a nursery wing,
And never speak the tavern name aloud.
Oh, the darling boy is sitting very still.
Pillicock is king on Pillicock hill.

[Verse 2]
A half-beat before shaping, the jaw binds.
The common word is rising in the throat,
But sudden terror catches in the mind,
And buys my safety for a gallery groat.
I make him just a nursery affair,
A mother's word for something small and proud.
I leave him in the open, breathing there,
And keep the meaning hidden in the sound.

[Chorus]
He sits upon his hill, the little king.
A pampered child, a bauble for the crowd.
I keep him safe beneath a nursery wing,
And never speak the tavern name aloud.
Oh, the darling boy is sitting very still.
Pillicock is king on Pillicock hill.

[Bridge]
Sanity would see me in the gaol.
Wit would only guarantee the cell.
But let a shivering beggar weave the tale,
And he can ring the little silver bell.
The safest place to hide a loaded jest,
Is in the babble of a broken breath.

[Outro]
They think I lost my wits upon the heath.
They smile to see the darling on his throne.
I keep the heavy truth behind my teeth,
And leave the little gentleman alone.
He sits upon his hill.
And the censor nods.