Unknown - Hard Cheese Of Old England Lyrics

There's Cheddar and Cheshire and Lancashire too,
Leicester's bright orange and Stilton is blue.
It waxes so lyrical, what can you do but sing,

Oh the hard cheese of old England,
In old England very hard cheese.

Derby's got green bits because of the sage,
And when it gets older it's kept in a cage.
What does it hum when it reaches this age but,

Oh the hard cheese of old England,
In old England very hard cheese.

They say double Gloucester is twicest as nice,
They say double Gloucester, there, I've said it twice,
It's nice in potatoes but nicest in mice.

Oh the hard cheese of old England,
In old England very hard cheese.

Those Edam foreigners aren't worth a mention,
Old Gorgonzola's renowned for it stench 'n',
His brother Emile wrote novels in French and sing,

Oh the hard cheese of old England,
In old England very hard cheese.

There's Swaledale and Wensleydale, Rutland to add,
Shropshire and Cornish you may not have had,
It's not bad on salads, this ballad's not sad and sing,

Oh the hard cheese of old England,
In old England very hard cheese.

My young love said to me, My Mother won't mind,
And my Father once liked you for your lack of rind,
No cheese greater love for his food than mankind.

(Written by Les Barker.)
(Most famously performed by Martin Carthy.)

[Thanks to lrcsndmnd.temp for correcting these lyrics]