Ewan MacColl — Govan Pool-Room Song

Now Govan is a busy place upon a Friday night And the billiard halls down there are busy too An' there's many a strongly fancied lad been rattled in a fight For fiddlin' wi' the colours and the cue [Chorus] Oh don't stan' and look aroun' when the cues are upside down And the balls are flying fast from far and near For whether you're tae blame, ye'd be better safe at hame When they're handing out the stitches in your ear Now 'twas on a certain Friday I went down to a saloon For I'd heard some fancy things about this dive So I moved up to a table where two lads were trying hard To win three sets of snooker out of five [Chorus] Oh don't stan' and look aroun' when the cues are upside down And the balls are flying fast from far and near For whether you're tae blame, ye'd be better safe at hame When they're handing out the stitches in your ear There were nearly four score Govan boys wi' bunnets tae the fore Standing round upon the benches looking grim For the word had got around that one chap was three sets down And his chances now were getting mighty slim [Chorus] Oh don't stan' and look aroun' when the cues are upside down And the balls are flying fast from far and near For whether you're tae blame, ye'd be better safe at hame When they're handing out the stitches in your ear One half of this mob had bet their dough upon the losing guy And the rest were on the boy whose game was made But the leary, losing punters knew that when the game was by The other mob just weren't getting paid [Chorus] Oh don't stan' and look aroun' when the cues are upside down And the balls are flying fast from far and near For whether you're tae blame, ye'd be better safe at hame When they're handing out the stitches in your ear Now the cool-dab lad, the winning boy, was lined up for the kill He was sticking home the points in fives and threes When the losing rascal calls, as he jiggles up the balls 'That's all, the gem's a bogie if you please!' [Chorus] Oh don't stan' and look aroun' when the cues are upside down And the balls are flying fast from far and near For whether you're tae blame, ye'd be better safe at hame When they're handing out the stitches in your ear