We used to gather at the Old Dun Cow

AKA
First Published1918

Writer/composerTW ConnorRoudRN13903

Music Hall PerformersErnie Mayne
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Hart, Bob : England : Suffolk ; 1967/8
Of all the "Cows" I ever loved, I loved the "Old Dun Cow",
It gave the sort of nourishment that suited me somehow.
That's where I met my college chums and used to run a score
For seven nights in ev'ry week, there wasn't any more.

When we used to gather at the Old Dun Cow,
But the Old Dun Cow is done for now,
Got no beer, got no gin,
And next week they're going to have the brokers in!
So now we gather at "The Fountain
"
After half past nine
And take a cup and drink it up
For the sake of old Lang Syne

or {And it tastes like turpentine}
or {And it tastes like chloride of lime}


When I was ill and the Doctor order'd stout for me to sup,
That's five and twenty years ago, but still I keep it up.
The "med'cine" must have done me good, for my head got so fat,
I have to use a shoehorn still, when I put on my hat.

Last Saturday we milked the Cow until they turned us out,
We joined a temperance meeting where a man got up to spout.
He looked at me and said, "Young man, you know where drunkards go?"
I said said, lor' love yer matey, that's just what we want to know.

If ever I should live to hear that my rich uncle "snuff'd"
I'm going to buy an "Old Dun Cow" myself and have it stuff'd.
I'll decorate its stables with quart pots and ten inch clays,
And keep it in my bedroom just to remind me of the days..

Not to be confused with the earlier When the old dun cow caught fire (1893)…

We used to gather at the Old Dun Cow (1918) was written and composed by  TW Connor. It was performed by the popular comedian Ernie Mayne

In the 1960s it was collected by Neil Lanham from the singing of Bob Hart, one of a generation of great pub singers active in and around Suffolk in the 1960s and 70s. It can be heard on the CD Songs from the Company of the Butley Oyster

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%3A13903
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Sheet Music Cover: Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Sheet Music and lyrics: Birmingham Weekly Mercury – Sunday 16 February 1919
  • Neil Lanham CD NLCD3 (‘Songs from the Company of Butley Oyster’)
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