William Tell
Composer(s): Gioacchino Rossini; Harold Purcell
Performer(s): David Whitfield



Come away, come away with William Tell
Come away to the land he loved so well
What a day, what a day when the apple fell
For Tell and Switzerland

Come away with Tell to the mountainside
Looking down to the pass where the tyrants ride
Set a bolt to your bow and down they go
For Tell and Switzerland

We are simple peasant folk
We will not fell a foreign yoke
Our freedom song will echo on
We’ll fight for what is right

Hurry on, hurry on there’s a pungent cell
Hurry on, hurry on there’s a noose as well
What we must face from the jaws of hell
For Tell and Switzerland

We lived our lives, we loved our friends
We never wanted more
We had the skill to plough and till
But not the art of war
But now the tyrant from the plains
Steals up to take our lands
Instead of spade we wield the blade
Our life is in our hands

Follow on, follow on with the leaders feel
With a thrust of a pike and a clash of steel
Follow on with the fight till the tyrants reel
For Tell and Switzerland

Give ‘em one for the day they bared the grain
Give ‘em two for the night that Fritz was slain
Give ‘em three, give ‘em four and hooray for more
For Tell and Switzerland

The shepherd’s crook, the reaping hook
Has taken on a warlike look
With blades we’ve beaten from the plough
We reap a harvest now.

Come away, come away with William Tell
Come away to the land he loved so well
Fit a bolt to your bow, and away we go
For Te-e-e-ell, and Switzerland