Listen to the track:
Death or Glory
A dramatic ballad based on a real 19th-century Wembury smuggling case. Coastguards Murphy and Kendall clash with smugglers, including one James Elliott, in a moonlit cornfield, fighting with cutlass and bludgeons as tubs of contraband are spirited away. Overpowered, they are mocked and forced to drink from the smugglers’ flagon. Later in Down Thomas, Murphy unmasks a supposed woman who proves to be James Elliott in disguise. Though tried, Elliott is acquitted, leaving the tale to live on in song.
Death or Glory (at Down Thomas)
Moonlight over cornfields, silence on the hill
Murphy and old Kendall, on the coast guard’s drill
Tubs and kegs a glimmer, shadows on the ground
Customs cried “Stand steady” the smugglers gathered round
Death or glory, life for life
Cutlass flash and bludgeon strike
Blows rain down, the night is wild
Cornfield turned to battleground
Overpowered and beaten, held upon the floor
Smugglers raised the flagon, “Drink or feel our oar
If you will not kiss the liquor, our clubs will kiss instead”
But Murphy swore revenge on every blow he bled
Death or glory, life for life
Cutlass flash and bludgeon strike
Blows rain down, the night is wild
Cornfield turned to battleground
Down in old Down Thomas, three women came in sight
Apron, cap and shawl there, strolling in the night
Murphy tipped the bonnet, oh what a fine surprise
’Twas James Elliott in lady’s clothing with a beard beneath the eyes
Dragged before the station, stripped of borrowed gown
Neighbours called to witness, no one knew his grounds
Three times he faced the benchmen, three times they let him go
But tales of smuggler’s glory still set the fields aglow
Death or glory, life for life
Moonlit fight and smugglers’ flight
Cornfield clash and coastal roar
The tale will live forevermore
Moonlight over Wembury, silence on the hill
Smugglers gone to shadow, but the story lingers still