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The Ballad of Billy Hughes

from A Little Westbrook Music by The Westbrook Trio

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lyrics

The Ballad Of Billy Hughes
Kate Westbrook



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Billy Hughes the killer
Billy Hughes the slain
Billy's body lies in Chesterfield
In a grave that bears no name

The church spire of Chesterfield
Like an arthritic limb
Twists, it twisted so they say
When a virgin bride walked in

Billy went to Chesterfield
To find his woman there
"That Billy will kill one day" she said,
She spoke it like a prayer

Billy went out killing
Killed a family of four
A policeman trapped and shot him down
In remote Eastmoor

"Mass murderer" they called him
As they laid him out in grace
And bore him to the churchyard
To a sacred resting place

The market place was shuttered,
Rain fell on flint and stone,
On coffin bearers and police
As that winter day drew on

From the gate her voice cried out
"He'll not be buried here,
In Chesterfield churchyard
Lie the bones I Hold most dear."

She entered in the churchyard then
Down she knelt in rain and mire
Clawed the dirt from off his coffin
Beneath the crooked spire

She pulled the earth and called his name
Gravedigger and priest
Had to halt their Holy office
In the face of that wild beast

All looked askance at this macabre
Arms all caked with mud
"You look amazed at me" she cried,
"His arms were caked with blood."

credits

from A Little Westbrook Music, released October 14, 2019

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about

Kate Westbrook London, UK

Kate's musical career began in the mid '70s when she joined the Mike Westbrook Brass Band.

Kate has formed a new 7–piece group, The Granite Band to record and perform her latest work, GRANITE, inspired by Dartmoor and its granite quarries.

Kate's full Bio: www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/katewestbrook/kate_bio.shtml
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