{"id":10651,"date":"2021-05-08T16:24:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T16:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=10651"},"modified":"2022-08-07T15:21:58","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T15:21:58","slug":"more-work-for-the-undertaker","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/more-work-for-the-undertaker\/","title":{"rendered":"More work for the undertaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Solomon
Sammy had an uncle
Sambo had an auntie
Sambo pegged out<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1895<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>FW Leigh<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN13201<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Charles Bignell<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Andrews, Dave; England : Suffolk; c1964
Eldon, Jim; England : Yorkshire; 1972
Eldon, Lynette; England : Yorkshire ; 1972
Stevenson, Kate; England : Yorkshire; 1972<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Listen to the song I'm going to sing you\nYou'll laugh till you haven't any breath\nPeople as a rule now seem to think it funny\nWhen they hear of a violent death\nPoor little Solomon Snoozer behaved like an ass\nHe searched round the house with a candle t'other night\nTo find a big escape of gas.\n\nMore work for the Undertaker\nAnother little job for the tombstone maker\nAt the local cemetery they've been very very busy\nOn a brand new grave - Snoozer's snuffed it.<\/em>\n\nBilly Buck by nature was a moucher\nHard work didn't suit him it appears\nHe had never done one single bit of 'graft'f for nine and thirty years\nLately he had a bad nightmare, Bill at once got the 'knock'\nHe dreamt he'd been out looking for a job\nHe couldn't stand the terrible shock.\n\nMore work for the Undertaker\nAnother little job for the tombstone maker\nAt the local cemetery they've been very very busy\nOn a brand new grave - Billiam's 'blewed it.'<\/em>\n\nSammy Shuter laboured on the railway, his work he was very clever at\nSam, the other day, was polishing the metals with a lump of mouldy fat\nUp came a runaway engine. Sam stood upon the track\nHe held up his hands for he thoroughly believed\nHe could push the locomotive back.\n\nMore work for the Undertaker\nAnother little job for the tombstone maker\nAt the local cemetery they've been very very busy\nOn a brand new grave - Shuters 'shunted'<\/em>\n\nPeter Piper visited a circus, he saw what he could never forget \u2013 \nOne of the performers jumped from the ceiling, of the house into a net. \nPeter, a day or two after, tried a similar drop \u2013 \nHe lept from housetop 57 feet, and fell upon a big fat \"slop\" - \n\nMore work for the undertaker\nAnother little job for the tombstone maker \nAt the local cemetery they've been very very busy \nOn a brand-new grave \u2013 for Peter and the P'liceman!<\/em>\n\nLittle Freddie Figgleton, the fat boy last week called upon his Uncle Brown\nJust before he left, young Freddie was presented with a bright new half-a-crown\nThen as he felt a bit thirsty he went into a shop\nDrank ten lemonades, a dozen ginger beers and there was a big loud Pop.\n\nMore work for the Undertaker\nAnother little job for the tombstone maker\nAt the local cemetery they've been very very busy\nOn a brand new grave - for Frederick's fragments.<\/em>\n <\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A huge hit for Charles Bignell (1866-1935) in the mid-1890s that quickly transferred across the Atlantic . It’s another example of a song designed to be varied to suit the tastes of different audiences.  No two versions are exactly alike, but I would suggest that they are all the same song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song seems to have been sung by students at Yale the early 20th century and around campfires by Girl Guides and Boy Scouts later in the same century . Many variations feature racial stereotypes, in particular many versions draw humour from a racist depiction of a character ” Sambo”. The variations in the song are reflected in the fact that within traditional singing it is more often known one of the alternative titles. Some versions also seem to draw on anti-Semitic stereotypes with characters in the verses like Solomon Levi and Reuben …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The version attributed to FW Leigh and Charles Bignell may have been cleaned up for publication and does not necessarily represent exactly what he sang, but there is no reason to suspect that he or his publishers would have been embarrassed about publishing songs using language we would find unacceptable today. So for example Leigh wrote and published a song called (with apologies for the racist language) Go ‘way Massa Bee<\/em><\/a> with its first line Sambo, he’s a lazy coon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A US version from 1902 :<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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