{"id":9464,"date":"2021-03-02T17:35:44","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T17:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=9464"},"modified":"2021-03-02T17:35:49","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T17:35:49","slug":"out-with-my-gun-in-the-morning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/out-with-my-gun-in-the-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Out with my gun in the morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Contented Countryman, The
It just suits me<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1873<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Frank W Green \/ Alfred Lee<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1847<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Albert Brennir<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Phillips, Mrs.; England : Wiltshire; 1914-16
Baldry, Jim England : Suffolk ; 1956
Knights, Jimmy; England : Suffolk; 1975
Lanham, Ruby; England : Suffolk; 1970s?

Modern performances<\/strong>
The Woodbine & Ivy Band
Bob and Gill Berry<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From a broadside published by Pearson in Manchester (no date)<\/a><\/strong>\n\nI live a jovial country life,\nHappy am I with my home and wife.\nSome people are richer, I envy none,\nI'm rich enough with my dog and gun.\nEarly in the morning I leave my home\nThat is the time in the fields to roam.\nDown in the valley my house you'll see,\nFolks say it's small but it just suits me.\n\nI love my wife, my pipe and my glass,\nGaily along life's road do I pass.\nJolly and free it just suits me\nAnd out with my gun in the morning.<\/em>\n\nWho'd lie in bed when the lark sings high!\nUp in the blue and cloudless sky.\nGay as a bird to the fields I go,\nBack I return with the sunset's glow.\nMy dear little wife, as I cross the stile,\nWelcomes me home with a loving smile.\nPerhaps other women may fairer be\nBut she's my own and she just suits me.\n\nWinter may come and the winds may blow,\nSafe in my home from frost and snow.\nBy my fireside with my wife I sing\nI wouldn't change with a crowned king.\nHappy am I, in my little cot,\nContented I'll be with my humble cot [lot?].\nFellows may sneer at my low degree\nThey say I'm poor, but it just suits me.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This song appears on a limited number of 19th-century English broadsides and has been collected from the singing of four traditional singers in England. A number of modern performers include it in their repertoire, more on this at the excellent Mainly Norfolk site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is reasonable evidence that this was originally sung on the Music Hall stage by a performer called Albert Brennir, with words by Frank Green and music by Albert Lee. In January of 1870 multiple notices appeared in London newspapers announcing the success of the song, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u00a0<\/strong>Monday,\u00a0 Jan. 24, 1870, \u00a0<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In 1873 song was published, credited to Green and Lee and there is a copy in the British Library<\/a>, the catalogue record specifies that the first line is: I live a jovial country life<\/em>.  It was not unusual for publishers to wait a few years before publishing sheet music. At that time songs written for the Music Hall were relatively disposable – if they were particularly successful and likely to appeal to the middle classes and better off workers who owned pianos, only then would they be published formally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strangely, the song appears in the US publication de Marsan’s Singers Journal <\/em>No. 92 (c1873) under a different title, It just suits me<\/em>, credited to a different British songwriter JA Hardwick<\/a>. I have searched for any other evidence that Hardwick had a hand in writing the song, or perhaps an earlier version. So far I can find no evidence to support this attribution, so for now I will continue to tribute the song to Green and Lee.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Albert Brennir  (b, d unknown ) does not appear in the standard histories of the halls –  I have put together this brief biography based on searches in 19th-century newspapers and periodicals.  His name starts appearing in around 1870 and the Era Almanac <\/em>of that year describes him as “a Negro delineator”, a description which does not appear in later references to him . This probably means that, like many entertainers at that time, he started in blackface but abandoned it when he became more successful. In the 1870s he was either described as a “sentimental” or “buffo”  baritone singer – “buffo” indicating that he was known for singing comic opera. For a while in the  early 1870s he was chairman and manager of The Marylebone<\/em> Music Hall in London. Later references seem to indicate that he increasingly moved away from  the Halls and into more respectable venues – concert halls and theatres.  From the mid 1870s to the late 1890s there are multiple reports of him taking part in domestic and international tours  as part of concert parties and comic opera  companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jim Causley sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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