An’ Extra Bit O’ Yarn

Now through Ricky’s history I’ve been cruising

In  the facts and the figures I’ve been having a dig

Inside my head it’s got me musing

On the contradictions in the man with the wig

I read that Arky was a guy who was a tough cookie

That his crews on the looms were little more than slaves

That he sent to prison anyone who played hooky

Now I read that he staged mill-town raves

You see, the Water-Frame Kid was a bit of a smartie

He knew profits would fall if his workers got blue

So every now and then he threw his posse a party

Giving them some fun with a bit of a do

Waving flags, they marched Cromford’s streets

Then into the hills where they went to pick nuts

With the brass band playing some wicked beats

Dancing back at the mill, the staff shook their butts

The next day each worker went back to his loom

Buzzin’ from the party, he had some incentive

For backbreaking work amidst industrial gloom

Leaving Ricky to get on with being inventive

Copyright  ã Michael Helme