When the old dun cow caught fire

AKAThe Old Dun Cow
First Published1893

Writer/composerHarry WincottRoudRN5323

Music Hall PerformersHarry Champion
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Copper, Jim; 1936; England : Sussex
The Keeping Family: 1930-50; England : London
Baldry, Jim; 1956; England : Suffolk
Copper, Bob & Ron; 1960; England : Sussex
Spicer, George; 1971-74 England : Sussex
Jones, Frank; 1984; England: Birmingham
Modern Performances
Louis Killen, Bellowhead
From  monologues.co.uk: 

Some pals and I in a public house
Was playing dominoes one night
When all of a sudden in the potman runs
With a face all chalky white
'What's up?' said Jones 'Why you silly old fool,
Or have you seen old Aunt Mariah?'
'Me Aunt be buggered,' then the potman cried
'The bleeding pubs on fire.'

'On fire!' said Brown, 'What a bit of luck!
Come along with me ' shouts he.
'Down in the cellar, if the fire ain't there,
We'll have a fair old spree.'
So we all goes down 'long with good old Brown
The booze we couldn't miss,
And we hadn't been there ten minutes or more 
When we was just like this.

And there was Brown, upside down
Licking up the whiskey off the floor
'Booze, Booze, ' then the firemen cried
As they came knocking at the door
'Don't let 'em in till it's all mopped up'
Someone said to MacIntyre
So we all got blue blind, paralytic drunk
When the old Dun Cow caught fire.

Old Johnson flew to a port wine tub
And he gave it just a few hard knocks
He then starts taking off his pantaloons
Likewise his shoes and socks
'Hold hard' said Brown, 'If you want to wash your feet
There's a barrel full of four ale here
Don't put your trotters in the port wine Jack
When there's more old stale beer'

Just then there was such a dreadful crash
Half the bloody roof gave way
We were almost drowned with a fireman's hose
But still we were all gay.
For we found some sacks, and some old tin tacks
Shoved ourselves inside
And we sat there getting bleary-eyed drunk
When the old Dun Cow caught fire

We got so drunk that we did not know
The blooming cellar had caught fire
Poor old Jones had the DT's bad
And wanted to retire
'There's old Nick' said another poor chap
'And he's poking up the blooming fire'
'That's no bogey, it's a fireman Tom
At least' said Mackintyre

'Let's get out,' said a blind eyed boy
'It's getting rather hot down here'
'Don't be a fool' said a boozy bloke,
'We haven't drunk the beer'
So we filled our caps and drank like cats
Midst the flames and smoke
I had to take my trousers off
I thought that I should croak.

At last the fireman got inside
And found us all dead drunk
But like true heroes there they stood
They did not do a bunk
They saw the booze upon the floor
And gave a sudden yell
They took their helmets off and then
Upon their knees they fell.

'At last! At last!' the firemen cried
'At last we know the news'
'Come on! Come on! ' us lads all cried
'Come on and have a booze.'

Cockney singer and comedian, Harry Champion‘s breakthrough hit, the words and music are generally credited to Harry Wincott but the real story is a little more complex…

The Music Hall and Theatre Review’s short-lived  Register of New Songs records that the song was first performed by Charles Bignell at The Royal (Holborn, London) on Sept 2nd 1893. The register gives the lyricists as “Ellis, Bignell and Villiers” with music composed by George Le Brunn. This claim is repeated in an advert which first appeared on 30 Sept:

The Era – 30 September 1893

There followed a series of claims and counter claims in the letters page of The Era (a newspaper which covered a lot of Theatre and Music Hall business):

  • Harry Wincott wrote indignantly claiming that he had written the song. He argued that he had taken the idea and the prewritten chorus to Charles Bignell on August 29th. As he didn’t get an immediate yes, that night he took the song to Harry Champion who immediately bought it from him (The Era – 07 Oct 1893).
  • Albert Ellis replied explaining that Charles Bignell had approached him with a chorus and asked him to complete the “ditty” by writing the verses. He had done so and accepted payment from Bignell. He also happen to know that George Le Brunn had written the music – as such it was “somewhat misleading”of Wincott to claim the song. (The Era – 14 Oct 1893)
  • Wincott wrote back saying he was “perfectly aware that when Mr Bignell commissioned him to write the song he [Ellis] was ignorant of the fact[s]” and agreeing that Le Brunn had written the music, though Fred Eplett had also composed some music for the verses. (The Era – 21 Oct 1893 )

A month later the score was published by Mocatta and Co, who issued this threat to anyone singing any unlicensed version:

The Era – Saturday 18 November 1893

Perhaps as a result of this notice Bignell seemed to stop performing his version, though he did sing it at least one more time – as an encore in a Christmas performance at the place where the song had debuted: The Royal (Holborn) (East London Observer).

Bignell and Ellis’s version was quickly over-shadowed by the success that Harry Champion had with his variant. But the story at least illustrates that the one name that appears on sheet music sometimes need to be taken with a pinch of salt…

After publication, the song was immediately taken up by amateur singers and there are numerous reports of it being sung between late 1893 and the beginning of World War One – particularly at all male Smoking Concerts.

Popularised in the modern folk music movement by the Copper Family, its modern history is well covered on the Mainly Norfolk site

Harry Champion sings it:

Bob Copper sings it in 1960:

Sources:

Last Updated on November 2, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: November 2, 2023

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