Murder at the Cross

Lyrics:

Some say it was the night before the night of Christmas Eve
The snow was deep and dark and cruel as Cotswold cold can be
The Valley children tucked in bed blowing hard on their frozen knee’s
While the women sat by the fire side as the charcoal warmed their feet

The Valley men had gathered round the pub this winter’s eve
Drinking hot poked cider & cutting cards, while they watched their wet boots steam
The door flung wide and then walked in a stranger from afar
As he greats each man by his family name & puts money on the bar

“I come today from Bristol Docks & an Auckland Mutton boat
My carriage broke down in the snow so I’ve journeyed here on foot
My family cottage I am bound, this Christmas there to spend
So one more drink to warm my bones before this journey ends”

“I left the Valley years ago a pale and bony lad
Sent out to the colonies, so far away from Slad
I earned my money raising beef, a fortune I have made
You could all have done the same if here you hadn’t stayed”

“While you sit and waste your lives stuck down in this bog
Eating bread and potatoes, digging muck, for half a bob a day you slog
I have money, I have land, I’m the man you wish you were
You touch your cap when you pass the Squire, while I call no man Sir”

The Stranger bought another round and flashed his watch of gold
His yelping voice the only sound as his tales of wealth were told
The old men sat and quietly drank & sniggered now and then
When the young men saw the spinning watch they quietly made a plan

“One last round” the stranger cried and paid for it in gold
His face was warm with whisky pride, while outside it still snowed
The young men stole off one by one, as the weather set to storm
Then the Stranger stood and buttoned his coat, he left the pub alone

Up the hill for one last mile, he sang as he stumbled along
Those in their beds safe and warm could hear his final son
When he reached the old stone cross they were bunched up in the win
The young men he had met that night were waiting there for him

They beat him down, they beat him hard, they beat him to his knee
They stole his coat, they took his watch, they left him there to freeze
His blood it stained the snow so white as he lay there on the ground
He never moved while the cold storm blew, ‘till the morning he was found

Word got out, police they came as soon as they had heard
But no one told them any name, no one said a word
Down in the Valley still they lived, Fathers, brothers, son
Without pardon, without blame, the village keeps it’s own

10 years past on her death bed a woman there she lies
Haunted by a secret kept, and in her sleep she cries
“Tell the boy to get it hid, that watch they must not find”
As she mutters and as she moans, there’s a stranger by her side

There he sits, notebook in hand just like a listening ear
“Oh daughter dear who is this man and what’s his business here?”
“He’s from the law” her daughter said “he’s a man that you can trust
He just wants to know all about the watch, He’s not HERE to make a fuss”

She looked at him so sharp and clear but not a word was said
She crossed her hands, she closed her eyes, the next thing she was dead
Those young men who robbed and killed, she knew just who they were
Now hard-working family men, their secret dies with her

All who knew have long since gone like tracks under the ground
And to this day the Strangers watch is never to be found
And still these ghosts and legends lie in tree & field & hill
The secrets of each generation the Valley keeps them still