‘This book recalls a voice that none of us will ever forget. Dry, sly, laconic and with the gravelly crackle of a concrete mixer. Try saying the lines aloud and you’ll catch the echo of Crump himself. For Crump’s words belong to an age-long folk tradition of ballads and songs, and his use of these forms is authentic. There’s nothing scrubbed and tidy and ironed about the way he wrote. You’ll always find twists and convolutuions and creases in his manner of putting things, and occasionally he also lets you see the rips and mends and stains.’ From the introduction by Kevin Ireland. So good luck, mate, I’m movin’ on, I’ll leave the place to you, And if they ask you where I’ve gone, Just tell them I shot through.