{"id":10413,"date":"2021-05-03T15:06:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T15:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=10413"},"modified":"2023-03-21T09:48:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:48:23","slug":"horse-the-missis-dries-the-clothes-on-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/horse-the-missis-dries-the-clothes-on-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Horse the missis dries the clothes on, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Clothes Horse<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1901<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>FW Leigh<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5661<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Frank Coyne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Copper, John; England Sussex; 1995<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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I wanted to join the Yeomanry\nThey told me I'd have to learn to ride a horse\nOf course, I'd have to ride a horse\nI went to a livery stable not so far from Charing Cross\nTo hire a horse of course\nThey said, 'Well, here's a horse.'\nAnd so, of course, I thought it was a horse\nIt was a funny animal - the legs it had were four\nOne at every corner, it could have done with several more\nThe men bunked me up, I started away on my own\nBut I don't think I shall ever learn to ride like Sloan.\n\nYou don't catch me on a gee-gee's back again\nIt's not the kind of place that you can doze on\nThe only horse that I think that I could manage\nIs the one the missis dries the clothes on.<\/em>\n\nI'll never forget the feeling\nWhen that horrible quadruped got 'on the go'\nYou know, I kept on shouting, 'Whoa'\nFor what with wibberly wobbling and the bumping to and fro\nAnd so and so, what ho, we made a rotten show\nSo that was why we went to Rotten Row\nAt last the gee-gee stopped a bit and, looking over there\nSaw a beautiful girl with any amount of carrotty hair\nHe rushed up behind, before I knew what he had done\nHe had chewed a great big mouthful of the lady's bun.\n\nI had to get off the gee-gee's back\nThe lady with ginger hair was feeling sore\nBut Lor, she soon began to roar\nI tried to get back to my place, but I perspired at ev'ry pore\nAnd something tore, I swore, when I was up once more\nFor there was I stuck on behind before\nI grabbed the bounder by the tail - he dashed away of course\nThen the saddle began to slip and it took me under the horse\nThe crowd gave a cheer - they thought I was having a spree\nBut I said, when I came out of the infirmary,\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Frank Coyne (1875-1906) was born in Derby as Joseph Jones and initially worked as a travelling salesman for a jewelry business. In his teens he was an amateur comedian, but in his early 20s became a professional, taking up stage name of his father, Frank Coyne senior (1854-82) who had also performed in the Halls. Billed as The Realistic Rarity of Rattling Refinement<\/em>, he was popular in London and toured successfully in South Africa. His most famous songs were this one, Come and have a tiddly at the Fountain<\/em> and What’s the use of a pair of kilts? <\/em>Sadly he was more often remembered for the manner of his death – he committed suicide by cutting his throat in the bath and was discovered by his horrified wife.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This is one of two songs sung by Frank Coyne which feature in the repertoire of the Copper Family and may have been heard by Jim Copper when he visited London in the early 1900s. The other is Shift up a little bit farther<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n