{"id":23661,"date":"2024-02-25T10:12:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T10:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=23661"},"modified":"2024-03-16T09:43:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T09:43:44","slug":"captain-jinks-of-the-horse-marines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/captain-jinks-of-the-horse-marines\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Captain Jinks<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1862<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\/composer<\/td>Tom Maclagan, Harry Rickards<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN4858<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Tom Maclagan, Harry Rickards, William Lingard<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Over 40 traditional singers almost all in the USA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
From sheet music in Levy Collection<\/a>\n\nI am Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,\nI often live beyond my means,\nI sport young ladies in their teens,\nTo cut a swell in the army.\nI teach the ladies how to dance,\nhow to dance, how to dance,\nI teach the ladies how to dance,\nFor I'm their pet in the army.\n\nI'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,\nI give my horse good corn and beans;\nOf course its quite beyond my means,\nTho a Captain in the army.<\/em>\n\nI join'd my corps when twenty-one,\nOf course I thought it capital fun;\nWhen the enemy came, then off I run,\nI wasn't cut out for the army.\nWhen I left home mama she cried,\nmama she cried, mama she cried,\nWhen I left home mama she cried\n\"He aint cut out for the army.\"\n\nThe first day I went out to drill\nThe bugle sound made me quite ill.\nAt the Balance step my hat it fell,\nAnd that wouldn't do for the army.\nThe officers they all did shout,\nthey all cried out, they all did shout,\nThe officers they all did shout\n\"Oh that's the Cure of the army\"!\n\nMy Tailor's bills came in so fast\nForc'd me one day to leave at last,\nAnd ladies too no more did cast\nSheep's eyes at me in the army.\nMy Creditors at me did shout,\nat me did shout, at me did shout,\nMy Creditors at me did shout,\n\"Why kick him out of the army.\"\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n
The earliest record I can find of anyone singing this song is in 1862 when Maclagan’s comic ballad Captain Jinks<\/em> was sung by “Mr Collins” at a People’s Concert in Bristol’s Broadmead  Rooms (Western Daily Press 13 Oct 1862<\/a><\/em>) . The earliest report of  Tom Maclagan singing it (that I can find) is in 1866 in Scotland. Whilst later reports sometimes credit others, these early reports suggest that the song was written and composed by Tom Maclagan alone (his brief biography appear below).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In England Capt Jinks<\/em> was most famously the song which established the career of Harry Rickards<\/a> who was first recorded as singing it in London in 1867. Christopher Pulling described Capt Jinks<\/em> as the first military swell song – a military version of the many songs which mocked well-to-do young men about town. Other “military swell” songs include George Leyborne’s Captain Cuff<\/em> and GH MacDermott’s Captain Criterion<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was hugely popular in the US where it was popularised by Harry Lingard<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The song was widely published  on both sides of the Atlantic  in various  editions of  sheet music, and in broadsides and songsters. There are multiple newspaper reports of amateur performances from 1866 on. Given its popularity in the 19th century, it’s perhaps not surprising that it has been widely collected from traditional singers, particularly in America (it has been collected once in Scotland, once in Canada and around 40 times in the USA). The tune is widely played as a dance  –  see entry in the Traditional Tune Archive<\/a>  (there is a suggestion that Maclagan may have borrowed the melody from an earlier 18th century march or jig).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The title Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines<\/em> was also used for the early 20th century play that launched Ethel Barrymore’s career, a silent film made in 1916 and an opera written in the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tom Maclagan (1827-1902<\/strong>) was born and brought up in Edinburgh and as a musically gifted youngster he joined the army to play in a regimental band. He left the army after a year and travelled to London where his musicianship and dancing skills won him several parts in theatre productions, famous in particular for his role as The Bold Soldier Boy<\/em>. In the 1860s he toured the country as an actor and for a while appeared as a blackface minstrel in London, before gaining his reputation as one of the early stars of the  Music Halls and pantomime and taking the name The Great Maclagan.<\/em> He was popular both in London and the provinces in the 1860s and 70s, again giving the lie to the claim that Harry Lauder was the first successful Scottish comedian in London! He famously sang: The bold soldier boy, Capt Jinks , <\/em>and Bitter Beer.  <\/em>For several years he managed the Gaiety theatre in West Hartlepool were he gave songs, dances violin, flute, piano and concertina solos. Late in life rheumatism forced him into poverty and he lived in a “benevolent institution in Edinburgh”. He had a reputation as a fine landscape painter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s a version recorded by Pa’s Fiddle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n