BOLD REYNOLDS

Words and music ©1991 Dave Toye

Gordon – 12-string guitar

Every life deserves a song. I learned this from Martyn Wyndham-Read, a wonderful British singer and carrier of great songs. Dave Toye writes, “I used to have a weekly gig for a number of years in a country pub and on route is a lane called Bonfire Hill. I often saw a fox crossing the road there on my way home. Marlpost woods are near, as is the kennels of the Crawley and Horsham hunt.”

My name it is Bold Reynolds - I was born near Bonfire Hill

That was many years ago, but I remember still

My brothers and my sisters, as we played near the den

With ne'er a care in all the world - my life was easy, then

When I was scarcely nine months old I first met with the hounds

I heard their voices through the wood as I came above ground

I found it very easy to lose them in my wake

I wandered many miles that day - it was to prove my fate

Whilst I was on that journey, I met her in a copse

She had a handsome, thick red coat; straightway my heart was lost

We spent that year together - had seven cubs all told

I thank the hounds for sending me along that distant road

Many times when I was stalking rabbits on my own

I’d hear the distant hunting horn that called the stragglers home

At times the hounds would follow me but I would have my fun

Across the fields and meadows, I'd give them a good run

My mate and I we stayed together many seasons more

Pheasants in the wintertime we always had in store

And in the springtime I worked hard to feed the newborn young

Hunting through the short, chill nights until the rising sun

The years have passed, my vixen died, and I am on my own

My legs are tired, my coat is rough and all my seed is sown

I do not wish a lingering death – the hunt once more I’ll find

And lead them on through Marlpost wood for the final time

My name it is Bold Reynolds; I was born near Bonfire Hill

That was many years ago; but I remember still

My vixen and my young cubs, as we lay in the den

But now I bid you all farewell - my life is at an end

Bold Reynolds is recorded on the album Other Eyes