{"id":12746,"date":"2021-09-10T06:39:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T06:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=12746"},"modified":"2021-09-10T08:50:51","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T08:50:51","slug":"teddy-oneale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/teddy-oneale\/","title":{"rendered":"Teddy O’Neale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Teddy O’Neil
Sweet Teddy O’Neal
Mud Cabin<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1843<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Eliza Cook \/ J Gaspard Maeder<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5207<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Florrie Robina and others<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Thomas, Edward Joseph; England : Yorkshire : 1893
Fitzgerald, Mrs. Bridget; Ireland : Co. Wexford : 1967
King, Jimmy; England : Suffolk : 1974
Palmer, Freda; England : Oxfordshire : 1978
Hall, Mabs; England : Sussex : 1980
Godfrey, Murt; Ireland : Co. Kerry : 1981
Hall, Gordon; England : West Sussex : 1990<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Collected Poetical Works of Eliza Cook\n<\/strong>\nI've come to the cabin he danced his wild jigs in,\nAs neat a mud palace as ever was seen; \nAnd considering it served to keep poultry and pigs in,\nI'm sure it was always most elegant clean. \nBut now all about it seems lonely and dreary,\nAll sad and all silent, no piper, no reel; \nNot even the sun, through the casement, is cheery,\nSince I miss the dear, darling boy, Teddy O'Neale.\n\nI dreamt but last night oh ! bad luck to my dreaming,\nI'd die if I thought 'twould come truly to pass, \nBut I dreamt, while the tears down my pillow were streaming.\nThat Teddy was courting another fair lass. \nOh ! didn't I wake with a weeping and wailing,\nThe grief of that thought was too deep to conceal; \nMy mother cried \" Norah, child, what is your ailing?\"\nAnd all I could utter was \"Teddy O'Neale !\"\n\nShall I ever forget when the big ship was ready,\nAnd the moment was come when my love must depart; \nHow I sobbed like a spalpeen, \" Good-bye to you, Teddy!\"\nWith drops on my cheek and a stone at my heart.\nHe says 'tis to better his fortune he's roving,\nBut what would be gold to the joy I should feel, \nIf I saw him come back to me, honest and loving,\nStill poor, but my own darling, Teddy O'Neale.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song which predates the Music Halls, but was regularly sung there. The great archivist of the Halls , Kilgarriff, suggests this song was particularly associated with the singing of Florrie Robina a performer active in the 1890s and early 20th century. My own research in the pages of The Era <\/em>suggest that many other female artists sang it too – unlike most songs written for the Music Hall stage no one singer possessed the “rights” to this song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The words were written by the influential Victorian sentimental poet and publisher, Eliza Cook <\/a>– one of a number of the poems that she wrote as a teenager that were set to music and became staples of Victorian singing. Her songs were sung pretty much everywhere, from the concert halls and parlours frequented by the respectable middle classes, to the less salubrious music halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One musical setting for Teddy O’Neale <\/em>was written by American composer James Gaspard Maeder and published in 1843, but I can’t be completely sure that it was the music used by singers in the Halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teddy O’Neale <\/em>appeared  widely in print in the 19th century on both  sides of the Atlantic in  songbooks, sheet music and cheap street literature (broadsheets and songsters). <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The song has been collected from the singing of many traditional singers, though it is particularly popular in Ireland and in the Irish-American community. There is a popular Irish session tune of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the many versions I could find online, this is my favourite, an unaccompanied version by Karie Oberg, at The Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland monthly singing session on 18 December 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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