Now you've heard the songs that I love to sing, the tunes I like to play
Well, it's some of them I wrote me self, others met along the way
They're all friends to keep me company until my dying day
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And the stories in your newspapers, some (fair) and some are lies
For it's working folk who suffer as the businessman denies
But through poverty and scandal, I have a will to stay alive
It keeps me rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay
But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day
For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And I'll never be a wealthy man, though I've never courted fame
Soon too old to be the rising star, always miss the game
Or please maybe you'll remember my music and my name
As I go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And I've travelled roads in Holland through the bitter wintertime
I've spent springtime days in Flanders, I've spent summer down the Rhine
But when autumn is approaching, it's then I have a mind
To go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay
But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day
For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
Now, of friends in far off places and times that I've enjoyed
I've seen more than seven wonders, I've seen images destroyed
For tonight you'll find me working, tomorrow unemployed
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
Now I'm not sentimental, nostalgia I disdain
Those good old days are with us, I am the first one to complain
There's no sense in looking backwards, it's the moral that keeps me sane
It keeps me rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay
But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day
For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
Now it's miles upon the motorway, the dawn before me still
Through the sleepy towns and villages and the mists upon the hill
There's reflections in the reservoir, there's shadows on the mill
As I go rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And I hope my engine's faithful and my headlamps they burn bright
For there's many a musician who never made it through the night
Oh, so spare a thought for travellers as you turn out your light
Keep us rolling down the Ryburn in the morning
And there's a lot more songs I'd like to sing if only I could stay
But I must be headed homeward, perhaps another day
For the road that I must travel lies across the Pennine Way
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn
I'll be rolling down the Ryburn in the morning