Gipsy melodeon player, Lementina “Lemmie” Brazil, was born near Southampton and spent 26 years of her youth in Ireland, before her family returned to England to settle in Gloucester. She described some of her tunes as “Irish” and used to play for step-dance competitions. Peter Shepheard recorded her in the 1960’s and early 70’s and Gwilym Davies recorded her twice, in October 1977 and April 1981, when she was living on a caravan site near Gloucester. She played a one-row melodeon in C. We have transcribed her music in D or G.
Be Easy and Free
Lemmie had the following words:
Fill up your glasses and drink them all round,
Whatever the damage, I’ll pay.
Be easy and free while you’re boozing with me,
For I’m a man you don’t meet every day.
Their kettles and pans, they all tumbled down,
And they all rolled about the floor,
And we upset the lot that my father brought home,
In a whopping great muddle and all.
Do you think I’ve come over to seek for a job,
For it’s only my visit to pay.
Be easy and free while you’re boozing with me,
For I’m a man you don’t meet every day.
Lemmie can be heard on MTCD345-7 The Brazil Family, Down by the Riverside, CD 3, track 12.