The greenhopper plays his merry fiddle in the grass, As the children try to catch him in their glass jar, in their glass jam jar. The jam was of strawberry and the colour it was red; The children used to have it on the biscuits and bread. But now they try to catch the green grasshopper jumping from blade to blade, Jumping into the shade on a hot summer day.
Chorus (after each verse): And the hills are green once more, The hills the pilgrims saw On their way to Canterbury, On their way to Canterbu-u-u-ury.
The primrose-coloured flowers peeping through the hedge-rows. The sparrows and the thrushes sing, “Look how the sun glows!” The skylark flies so high, he sees the world passing by.
Chorus
And the children running helter-skelter cross the land. But the man on the tractor, he waves his hand, Saying, “Look over there, see the foxes lair, And the cubs running fair and fair.”
Chorus
The sparrow-hawk flies from the old oak tree, The hares and the rabbits, well, they all run free. Summer has come once more, it's the time that kids adore. And all the bells in Canterbury sing
That the hills are green once more The hills the pilgrims saw On their way to Canterbury, On their way to Canterbu-u-u-ury.