The rag and bone man

It could have done with a lick of paint
It’s wheels were rusty red
The cart was kind of broken
Slats missing he had said
Before he needed to replace them
But never got around
His horse was kind of shaggy
Supposedly he had found

This horse a bit unsightly
A kind of chestnut grey
With a leather and silver bit
He liked carrots everyday

The day that I remember
He had some sheets of lead
An old sink
And a barrel
And a mattress off some bed
“Rag and bone his usual cry
Above the traffic noise
But local people heard him
And often girls and boys

At weekends they would follow him
The wheels they always squeaked
Pepetuity was his sort of code
But the old horse never freaked
Out, he just kept walking on
Up and down the hills
Bits of jumble dusty tomes
An old dress with some frills

Old ted is what he called himself
With locks of yellow hair
I remember he had sideburns
Like Wyatt Earp and flair
His face seemed white I don’t know why
You would think out in the air
He would have got burnt up a bit
But he didn’t seem to care

HE’d unload his stuff and they’d pay him
And go back to his yard
I think he lived in an old barn
His life must have been hard
He didn’t shave and whether he even washed each day
He ponged a bit of horse I seem to remember
And my mother used to say

Have you been up upon Ted’s cart
No I used to say
But of course I had been on his cart
Every Saturday
He used to give me sixpence
For helping him unload
So what with getting all the rides
And sixpence too it showed

me I could earn some money
money
I Could spend
And that is how I started work
With Ted my dear old friend

“Rag and bone”