{"id":3652,"date":"2020-06-15T12:43:35","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T12:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3652"},"modified":"2023-08-14T10:21:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T10:21:05","slug":"up-a-tree","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/up-a-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Up a Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First published<\/td>1866<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton <\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>6095 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>\u00a0Harry Clifton <\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source singers<\/strong>
William Stephen, no date, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Bell Robertson, no date, Scotland<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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You see before you one who's been in life through many a changing scene,\nAnd yes withal a little green, of course I know it now:\nAlthough I've been unfortunate, you will allow me to relate,\nThat once I owned a large estate, 'twas then friends used to bow,\n\"Dear Jack, old boy,\" they then would say, \"I'm proud of such a meeting,\nHow do you do? where have you been? you're looking very well, I see,\"\nBut now they're grown so very shy they can't afford a greeting,\nIn vulgar phraseology, because I'm \"up a tree<\/em>.\"\n\nI'd friend in great variety, who courted my society,\nCame to dine, drank my wine, shook my hand with glee,\nI might walk from now till Whitsuntide, but when they see me off they glide,\nAnd pass me on the other side because I'm \"up a tree.\"<\/em>\n\nI once could give good dinners, ah! 'twas then the hungry sinners\nWould haunt my table daily, praise my judgment, jokes, and wine,\nJoin in conviviality, accept my hospitality,\nUntil, through prodigality, my fortune did decline.\nAnd so did they, for one by one they left me in my glory,\nA friend I stood in need of but no one could I see;\nMy money gone, and so had they--well, 'tis the same old story,\nSo while you have it keep it, or you'll soon be \"up a tree<\/em>.\"\n\nI once could drive my four-in-hand, had money, too, at my command,\nCould \"do the grand,\" you understand - how foolish I have been;\nI stand here to exemplify \"sweet uses of adversity,\"\nTo prove my friends in poverty  -  acquaintances I mean:\nBetter times may come again, a lesson 'twill have taught me,\n\"Preserve me from my friends,\" for the future it shall be;\nI've paid for my experience, though you see to what its brought me,\n\"I'm a sadder yet a wiser man,\" altho' I'm \"up a tree<\/em>.\"<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
One of a number of Harry Clifton<\/a> songs advertised by his publisher, Hopwood and Crew in August 1866:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era\u00a0–\u00a019 August 1866<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The song appears in several 19th century broadsides and songbooks. It was collected around the turn of the 19\/20th century from two different Scottish traditional singers in the Greig-Duncan collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n