BECHER'S BROOKN
(...over to Michael O'Hare)
“As the field comes down to Becher’s”; it’s the big Grand National Call
It defines ten thousand stories and it gets the skin to crawl
For it means we’re in the thick of it, a Nation bound as one
And we hold our breath collectively and we want to turn and run.
There’s a sofa there to hide behind, there’s a door onto the street
There’s anywhere but the TV screen, but for them there’s no retreat
So they hurtle on relentlessly to the glory or the fall
“As the field comes down to Becher’s”; it’s a phrase that says it all
You see Becher’s Brook is a law of one, the most famous trap in sport
As a rider, it’s your worst nightmare, it’s your eve of Aintree thought
And you know as a fan or a once a year man, when they cross that path on the course
That it’s looming large, with a drop of doom and it’s calling the bluff of your horse
There’s bolt hole under the staircase, there’s a door onto the street
There’s anywhere but the goddamn race, yet for them there’s no retreat
So they hurtle on relentlessly to the glory or the fall
“As the field comes down to Becher’s”; it’s the big Grand National Call
©Henry Birtles