William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
The Heads; or, the Year 1776Y
Ye clear heads, and queer heads, and heads without brains:
Ye thick skulls, and quick skulls, and heads great and small,
And ye heads that aspire to be heads over all.
Derry down, &c.
Whose bright heads and light heads are feather’d and curl’d,
The mighty dimensions Dame Nature surprise,
To find she’d so grossly mistaken the size.
Derry down, &c.
Encumber’d with nothing but powder and hair;
Who vainly disgrace the true monkey race,
By transplanting the tail from its own native place.
Derry down, &c.
On crown’d heads and round heads of these modern times:
This slippery path let me cautiously tread;
The neck else will answer, perhaps, for the head.
Derry down, &c.
Have taught much, and wrote much—too much to repeat:
On the neck of corruption, uplifted, ’tis said,
Some rulers, alas! are too high by the head.
Derry down, &c.
Projecting the downfall of kingdoms and kings,
Can your wisdom declare how this body is fed,
When the members rebel and wage war with the head?
Derry down, &c.
I bring case in point—don’t point out a flaw:
If reason be treason, what plea shall I plead?
To your chief I appeal, for your chief has a head.
Derry down, &c.
The parent grew strong whilst she foster’d the child.
Ill-treating her offspring, a fever she bred,
Which contracted her limbs and distracted her head.
Derry down, &c.
Proceeding by bleeding to settle her brain;
Much less can your art the lost members restore:
Amputation must follow, perhaps something more.
Derry down, &c.
Thy influence seizes an Englishman’s skull,
He blunders, yet wonders his schemes ever fail,
Though often mistaking the head for the tail.
Derry down, &c.