"
To: Ed Cray <cray@mizar.usc.edu>From: buyensl@primenet.com (Lorrill Buyens)
Subject: Re: The Lusty Blacksmith (fwd)
Status: RO
X-Status: A

>Lorrill:
>
>Would you be so kind as to post the euphemistic songs you know?  And tell 
>me/us whre you learned them?  From whom?  And the tunes, if identifiable?

I learned them from a tape that I made of some folk records of English songs
thirteen years ago.  (I think the records were made by Folkways, but am no
longer sure.)  The tunes appear to be original, as I've never heard them
connected with any other songs.  I've forgotten the titles, also, but will
post them without them.

The tinker song:

As I was going down the road, at a door I chanced to knock.
The lady she came to the door, and said "Oh, can you stop
And try to mend a rusty hole that's never held a drop?"
Well indeed I did, don't you know I did,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I did.

She took me through the kitchen and she took me through the hall,
The servants cried "The devil!  Are you goin' to block us all?"
Well indeed I wasn't, don't you know I wasn't,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I wasn't.

She took me to the bedroom to show me what to do.
She fell on the featherbed, and I fell on it too.
Well indeed I did, don't you know I did,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I did.

She took up a fryin'-pan and she began to knock,
For to let the servants know that I was at me work.
Well indeed I was, don't you know I was,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I was.

She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a gold watch,
She said "Take this, me jolly tinker, for I know you are no botch."
Well indeed I wasn't, don't you know I wasn't,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I wasn't.

She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out fifty pound,
She said "Take this, me jolly tinker, and we'll go another round."
Well indeed we did, don't you know we did,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed we did.

I've been a jolly tinker for forty years or more,
But such a rusty hole as that I never stopped before.
Well indeed I didn't, don't you know I didn't,
To me right-faloodle-laddy, well indeed I didn't.



The cobbler song:



This is just a little story, which to you I'm goin' to tell:
It's all about a butcher, who in London-town did dwell.
This butcher possessed a most beautiful wife,
But the cobbler he loved her more dearly than his life.
Singin' fol-de-riddle-ay-do, fol-de-riddle-o.

The butcher went to market for to buy an ox,
And then the little cobbler, sly as an fox;
He put on his Sunday-coat and courtin' he did go,
To see the jolly butcher's wife, because he loved her so.
Singin', etc.

When the little cobbler stepped into the butcher's shop,
The butcher's wife knew what was what and bade him for to stop.
"Oh," said he, "me darlin', have you got a job for me?"
"Well," she said, "you wait right here, and I'll go up and see."
Singin', etc.

When she reached the bedroom, she began to call,
She said "I have a job for you if you have brought your awl.
And if you do it workman-like, some cash to you I'll pay."
"Oh, thank you," said the cobbler, and began to stitch away.
Singin', etc.

As the cobbler was at work, a knock came on the door.
The cobbler scrambled out of bed and hid upon the floor.
"Oh," said she, "me darlin'!  What will me husband say?"
But then she let the policeman in, along with her to play.
Singin', etc.

The butcher came from market in the middle of the night,
The policeman scrambled out of bed and soon was out of sight.
The butcher's wife so nimbly she locked the bedroom door,
But in her fright she quite forgot the cobbler on the floor.
Singin', etc.

Then the butcher kissed his wife and he got into bed.
"Something here is very hard," the butcher smiled and said.
She said "It is me rollin'-pin," and he began to laugh-
"How did you come to roll your dough with a policeman's staff?"
Singin', etc.

The butcher threw the truncheon underneath the bed,
It cracked the piddle-pot and hit the cobbler on the head.
"Oh, murder!" said the cobbler, said the butcher "Who are you?"
"I am the little cobbler that goes mendin' ladies' shoes."
Singin', etc.



 
This cobbler's song is related to "Keach and the Keel" -- Cray