Tim McGuire

Little Tim McGuire loved to play with fire
Always hated water never used to wash
Loved the smell of burning, of bonfires burning
Loved to play all day with his little tinder box
He chased the sparks as they flew into the evening
Hailed the flash of lightning and the burning sun
When I'm a man I'm going to be a fireman
Then I can light a fire for everyone

When he was four they dressed him in a uniform
Sent him to a school with iron railings all around
Hated thе school and the rules and the railings
Took his littlе tinder box and burnt it to the ground
Oh how he laughed and sang in the fire light
Oh how he danced as the flames leaped to the sky
When I'm a man I'm going to be a fireman
Keep a bonfire burning till the day I die

When McGuire grew older they made him wear a bowler
Set him to work in an office in the town
Hated the pens and the pins and the paper
Had just one ambition to burn the office down
Oh Tim McGuire loved to play with fire
Loved the blaze of roses and the golden grain
Loved the leaves of autumn, the red leaves of autumn
Loved a slender girl with a smile like a flame

The judge said at his trial,
"Your behavior has been vial, you're a menace to society though you may think your big, you'll have to got to prison"
And then what a commotion,
For smoke and fire were pouring from out the judges wig
Oh how he laughed and sang in the court room
They took him down and locked him in the darkness of a cell
Never saw the sun or heard the sun birds calling
Saw the prison bars and heard the prison bell

Then early one morning just as the day was dawning
A great wheel of fire span skywards from the jail
The stone walls crumbled the iron bars melted
No one in the prison lived to tell the tale
No one ever found McGuire's little tinder box
No one ever found a trace of Tim McGuire
Perhaps he's up in heaven setting fire to angels halos
Perhaps he's down in hell dancing round' the fire

Oh Tim McGuire loved to play with fire
Loved the blaze of roses and the golden grain
Loved the leaves of autumn, the red leaves of autumn
Loved a slender girl with a smile like a flame