The Blue Cockade*
This is a traditional folk song that goes back into the mists of
antiquity. It is a cautionary tale as one of Sonic’s ancestors is
cornered by a bunch of school career advisors on commission who ply him
with alcopops and then con him into signing up for a tour of duty with the
military.
*Cockade – Noun, Middle English: a spiney, prickly or spikey
woodland creature, usually assumed to be a hedgehog.
c.f. Geoffrey Chaucer – The Canterbury Tales: The Folk Musician’s
Tale-
“Inne
ye wodes as ane heremite wass he mayde
to
dwel among ye bushes with ye blue cockade.
Ande
as ye towne was fillt with plague bubonic
Livved
he in pease in busshes with ye Sonicke.”
[Notice for our young readers and those of a
nervous disposition.]
It’s
OK, he survives. Luckily he gets posted to the same ship as Prince William
and so comes back from the wars with a bucketful of medals without having
been exposed to anything remotely dangerous!