Max Boyce – The Ballard of Morgan the Moon
There’s a tale of an old man who lived in the Rhonda Valley a long, long, long time ago, and he started out from very humble beginnings as a pipe-fitter at the local quarry and, well, he studied hard a night school and was always inventing things, until one morning, he shook the whole scientific and technological world by being the first man to land on the moon
And since that day, he’s been known to all valley folk as Morgan the Moon
That man from humble beginnings who became the greatest inventor the world has evеr known
Some may argue that the Amеricans were first on the Moon, but no lads, you see, they were first to get a man on the Moon and bring him back, but Morgan, he never got back
And they could never prove it because you see, Morgan landed on the dark side
I had a postcard back from him which said, ‘It is cheese’ and in brackets, ‘Caerphilly’
So here’s a little song-cum-poem which I’ve written in tribute, the ballad of Morgan the Moon
(Verse 1)
Old Mog the mechanic, I remember him well
He once built a rocket, or so they will tell
From an old winding-engine he found on the dole –
Built in the Rhondda and powered by coal
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!
(Verse 2)
And when it was finished he painted it red
And he called it 'Bethania', or so it is said
And he took it up a mountain on a night late in June
'To get that bit closer,' said Morgan the Moon
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!
(Verse 3)
Sleepy Treorchy was bathed in white light
When the shuddering hulk took off in the night
A deafening scream an then a great roar
And up past the houses old Morgan did go
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!
(Verse 4)
His heat-shield was glowing like anthracite coal
And we prayed down in Cardiff, in mission control
The barrow wheels dropped as was previously planned
And old Morgan prepared for Bethania to land
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!
(Verse 5)
He landed like linen on a crusty old crater:
Dai said he'd get there lunar or later!
So off Morgan went in the moon's swirling dust
To collect some rock samples from a crater's hard crust
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!
(Verse 6)
A strange piece of rock soon old Morgan found
Just lying there shining on the dust-covered ground
He picked it up closely and he let out a call
'Cos written right through it in Welsh was 'Porthcawl'!
Sing fal-da-ral, dal-da-ral-day!