Alice in the Bacon Box

My name once was Alice Grace,

The flower of my town

All the boys used to turn and stare

They still do that now

I once had a lover

and he was strong and kind and true

or at least I thought he was

but he were all I knew

(he were all I knew)

My name once were Alice Grace

the fallen lady in my town

the boys well they turned away

though they’re blummin staring now.

And when me mother died

it broke me father’s heart in two

within ten days, he’d passed away

and they were all I knew

(they were all I knew)

My name once were Alice Grace

the beggar in my town

I couldn’t pay me rent, and so I got turned out

But this kind hearted butcher he wouldn’t see me on the street

he gave me a bacon box and a scrap of food to eat

(a scrap of food to eat)

Old Alice in the bacon box

That’s what they called me

lived off the kindness of strangers in my box upon the green

and though the workhouse in Shardlow

tried to take me for its own

I’d pull out of my shoe a bright penny and two

and they’d have to send me home.

(they’d have to send me home)

(have to send me home)

(have to send me home)

One day the copper caught me,

with no thrupence to my name

and he carted me off to Shardlow

I ne’er saw me box again.