AKA | The little wigger-wagger in my hand Little wigger-wagger |
First Published | 1909 |
Lyrics | Fred Earle | Music | Frank Carter & Gilbert Wells | Roud | 21961 |
Music Hall Performers | Fred Earle |
Folk performances | Source Singers unknown, 1959, England Charlie Moore, 1964/65, Suffolk England |
There's one thing about me, there's no doubt I look a masher when I'm walking about People stare but I don't know why P'raps it is because I wear a collar and a tie No joke, my poke tho' a trifle red Doesn't make them look at me a lot But there's one thing people seem to think is funny And I tell you what it is, just what. It's the little wigger-wagger in my hand That makes me such a dandy It's not my strut, nor my face tut-tut Not the brand new cady like a pimple on my nut Maidies and the ladies I meet when I'm walking in the Strand They admire my togs and I keep away the dogs With my little wigger-wagger in my hand. I went to a fancy dress ball one night Dressed up as a cupid! What a lovely sight In pink tights, cos I don't like black Got a pair of chicken wings and stuck them on my back In Bow, you know, I picked up a bow Bought it very cheap, why, I be blowed At my side I wore a quiver full of arrows That I hired up in Harrow Road. With my little wigger-wagger in my hand I walked into the ballroom But I blushed with pride, for the girls all cried 'If I catch you bending' and I thought I should have died Fellows, they were jealous But why it was I couldn't understand For I stood just so with my arrow and my bow And my little wigger-wagger in my hand. Not long ago, on a winter's night I dropped the candle and the house caught alight Firemen came as the stairs gave way I was in the attic when the hose began to play Water oughter put the fire out But it didn't do it, as it ought So to rescue me the firemen got a ladder But the ladder was a lot too short. With my little wigger-wagger in my hand I crept out of the window And upon my soul, up a telegraph pole I climbed, lor' lumme, with my face as black as coal Sizzling and a-frizzling I did a bit of Blondin understand? With my shirt on fire, then I walked along the wire With my little wigger-wagger in my hand. I had a girl named Mary Price Though she was beautiful and oh, so nice I took her to the church one day Brought a pal along with me to give the girl away In ran some man in a pinafore Put it on to cover up his pants Then he asked me 'Will you take this little woman?' But I never got an earthly chance. With my little wigger-wagger in my hand I stood before the altar Then Parson Gray to the bride did say 'Will you take this gentleman to honour and obey?' Mary so contrary She diddled me so beautiful and grand For she bunked from church and she left me in the lurch With my little wigger-wagger in my hand. Once at the seaside, Margate way I had a little dip in Pegwell Bay Left my clothes on a sandy beach Put them where I reckoned that the water wouldn't reach Sidestroke, wide stroke, I began to swim Bobbing in the water like a boat And on my cane I tied a pair of bladders Just to hold me up and make me float. With my little wigger-wagger in my hand I left the salt seawater But I felt a jay - to my great dismay For the waves carried all my toggery away I there I felt a pie there For all the girls were laughing on the sand As away I raced with a kipper round my waist And my little wigger-wagger in my hand.
Another risqué song from Fred Earle, this one apparently not so well remembered as Seaweed, but found the singing of two late 20th-century traditional singers.
John Rorke performed the song on the BBC Radio programme Palace of Varieties broadcast from an imaginary Hall between 1937 and 1958 – its possible that later performers heard it first on this radio programme.
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%3A21961
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
- Max Tyler: Palace of Varieties: the story of a BBC radio programme, Music Hall studies 5, p207-211 (2010
A recording by Billie Milton:
Last Updated on August 8, 2022 by John Baxter | Published: July 4, 2020