Brown upside down

AKA
First Published 1884
Writer/composer Walter Hastings Roud RN3354

Music Hall Performers Will Bint
Folk performances Source Singers
Showers, Charlie 1972 England : Somerset
Palmer, Freda 1974 England : Oxfordshire
Hall, Mabs 1980s England : Sussex
Howard, Arthur 1981 England : Yorkshire
Modern performances		 

Now Jobson Brown was a worn-out clown
And a careful clown was he.
He'd saved enough to open a pub,
Somewhere in Kensal Green.
You never could forget the tricks
By which he earned his daily bread,
And now and then, when the fit came on,
He'd stand upon his head.

All the people shouted out, 'Oh, my'.
All the people they did stare.
For there was Brown, he was upside down,
With his legs sticking up in the air.

Now the nearest neighbour to old Brown,
Was a widow, Mrs Birch.
He proposed to her.  She answered 'Yes',
So they toddled off to church.
'Will you love and obey this man?'
The worldly parson said.
She blushed and screamed, for there was Brown
A-standing on his head.

The parson gave a scream, and shouted out 'Oh, my'
And all the people they did stare;
For there was Brown, he was upside down,
With his legs sticking up in the air.

A-twelve month after a child was born,
To the great delight of Brown.
It was the image of himself
And a regular little clown.
Before the child was six weeks old
It scrambled out of bed,
And to the nurse's great surprise
Was standing on his head.

The nurse she gave a scream and shouted out 'Oh, my'
As she fainted away in the chair;
For there was young Brown, he was upside down,
With his legs sticking up in the air.

A song from the Halls of the 1880s, remembered by traditional singers in Yorkshire and elsewhere in England. Aside from the sheet music I have yet to find any surviving examples existing in printed form.

The song was written by Walter Hastings , who was actively publishing Music Hall songs in the 1880s and 1890s . It was popularised by Will Bint (1853-1913) aka Billie ‘Beau’ Bint, a popular comic who barely features in the standard histories of the Halls. The only reference to him I have found are:

  • H Chance-Newton mentions that he married Kate of the Leamar Sisters and dismisses him as “a quaint but erratic comic singer” – whatever that means!!
  • Arthur Roberts describes him as “for a long time the most popular Chairman at the Oxford, where on one occasion he astounded everybody by walking into the bar, seeing one of the sisters Leamar for the first time, [and saying] “that’s the girl I’m going to marry.””

A brief search through The Era indicates that he was performing regularly in London and the “provinces” from around 1873 until his death in 1913. He appeared in the Royal Variety Performance of 1912, and was also a successful songwriter, providing songs for, amongst others, Fred Coyne. His descendants are in process of producing a family history, and there is a page about him here.

“Brown upside down” also features in the chorus of the Harry Wincott song The Old Dun Cow but I’m not sure how/if the songs are otherwise related…

[In the past it was suggested that this song might be the same as Billie Brown of London Town, but it’s turned out to be quite different.]

You can hear Will Noble sing it on the Yorkshire Garland website here

Sources: