| AKA | Stop your ticklin’ Jock |
| First published | 1904 |
| Lyrics | Harry Lauder & Frank Folloy | Music | Harry Lauder | Roud | RNV27386 |
| Music Hall performers | Harry Lauder Jay Laurier |
| Folk performances | Source Singers Jeannie Robertson, 1962, Aberdeenshire, Scot. |
Oh I'm courting a farmers dochter, she's one of the nicest ever seen Her cheeks they are rosy red, and her age is just sweet seventeen When I throw my arms about her neck and try to steal a kiss Oh she'll wriggle and giggle and twist and twiggle And then you'll hear her shouting this. Will yer stop yer tickling, Jock Oh stop yer tickling, Jock Dina mak' me laugh so hearty Or you'll make me choke Oh I'd wish you'd stop yer nonsense Just look at all the folk Wil yer stop yer tic-kle-ing Tic-kle-ic-kle-ic-kle-ing Stop yer tickling, Jock. Oh she went to the seaside with me, I thought she would like to see the sea Oh I did enjoy myself that day, and I can tell you so did she On the railway train, as we went through the tunnels in the dark Oh, everytime I winked at her, the passengers heard her remark. Oh, I went to the farm one Sunday, because she invited me to tea Her father and her Mither went to the Kirk, which was a' richt for me What a lovely lovely feed we had of ham and eggs and bun Oh, and after that we had some treacle Roly-poly just for fun. Oh, I'm thinking o' getting married, In that d'ye ken they'll be no harm Because I think she's just the sort of lass to keep me nice and warm I think she has a lot of brass, but that I'll find out soon If she has, than we'll go riding on the Tupp'ny Tube for the honeymoon.
Harry Lauder (1870-1950) , was the son of a potter and one of eight children. At 14 years old he started work as a miner, and spent 10 years in the pits. Like many artists that started in the halls, he began singing as an amateur, entertaining his workmates and others in the community. After a while as a part-time/semiprofessional entertainer he began performing full-time at some point in the 1890s. Eventually, he was billed The Laird of the Halls, and was perhaps the most famous Scottish comedian ever. He made the trip to London in 1900, and very quickly became a huge star, staying at the top of the bill until he stopped performing in the 1940s. This is one of a handful of songs that will forever be associated with Lauder…
The song also featured in the repertoire of one of his contemporaries: Jay Laurier (1879-1969), a comedian billed as The Farmer’s Boy and most often dressed in a red wig and Tate and Lyle sugar sacks, to indicate the persona of a country pumpkin. He ended his career as a “legitimate” theatre actor, apparently his Dogberry was “much admired”.
Still widely sung today, but such was Lauder’s fame that I can’t imagine anyone sings it without knowing it was his…
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A32490
- Lyrics: Monologues.co.uk
- Kilgarriff Sing us
- Kilgarrif Banjo’s
Last Updated on August 17, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: May 27, 2020
