UNIT Three Wretched Richards.

Note: all tracks recorded under the names Academy 23 or UNIT are the property of DNA Records and protected by copyright, regardless of who wrote the works concerned. This is a track recorded in December 2021 for our 49th album: Alone In A Quiet Place. Richard The 1st, Richard The 2nd or Richard The 3rd – which is of these grim and grisly kings of England was the worst? I say it’s Richard The 2nd but frankly, there really isn’t much difference between them. They’re all utter bastards.

Beware of any king called Richard; it invariably leads to disaster.
You know your lives are liable to be hard when a Richard is your royal master.

Richard The 1st could only speak French;
he was in our country for less than a year.
He couldn’t save Jerusalem from the Turks
yet he cost our population dear.
He knew how to swing a sword and not much else.
Such a fool we don’t need here.

Richard The 2nd was a liar and a cheat,
a snivelling coward you’d never wish to meet.
When the peasants revolted in 1381,
he agreed to their demands with words so sweet,
he deceived Wat Tyler before the man was murdered.
Such a wretch isn’t fit to kiss my feet.

Richard The 3rd was a saint by comparison,
merely eager for wealth and power.
He took young Edward The 5th and his brother
and locked them up in the bloody tower.
He met Henry The 7th in the battle of Bosworth.
Certainly his death was finest hour.

Beware of any king called Richard; it invariably leads to disaster.
You know your lives are liable to be hard when a Richard is your royal master.

Text & Music – Andy Martin.

If you are interested in the work of 2 earlier groups, The Apostles (1982-1989) and Academy 23 (1990-1997), each related to certain members of UNIT, their complete recorded works can now be found on our Bit Chute channel. Type Bit Chute Andy Martin to locate it.

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