Cooking the Cock of the North
AKA | Cock of the North |
First Published | 1911 |
Writer/composer | Harry Wincott / Harry Castling | Roud | RN3554 |
Music Hall Performers | Harry Bedford |
Folk performances | Source Singers Elliot, Harry 1956-59 England Sussex |
From Feldman's Second Giant Budget of Songs: I went into into a raffle once And what do you think that I got? Well, a beautiful bird from off of McNat And the missus went clean off her dot We screwed his neck in the ringing machine, But the cock of the North wouldn't die; We shoved him into the saucepan then, But every minute he'd cry - Cock a doodle, cock a doodle, That's what he sang in the broth. We scraped him, faked him, Boiled him and baked him, Cooking the cock of the North.. We took him out of the saucepan then, And covered him over with ice; We stuck a pin in the Parson's nose, And stuffed him with treacle and rice. But all of a sudden he gave a leap, And then flew under the bed; He shoved his head in the washing basin, Then wiped his nose and said - We stuffed his poverty corner up With sage and potatoes as well, We fired three shots at his Marble Arch, And three at his darby kell. We shoved him into the oven, and then We made up the fire nice and high, But he kicked the door of the oven right off And then again started to cry – The lodgers came down and the neighbours They all said its a pity to try To cook such a bird as it wants to live Well don't let the poor devil die So we tied him up to the bed post With a rope and a table cloth And all he would sing was "Let them all come, For I'm the cock of the North!"
A turn-of-the-century music hall song remembered by at least one traditional singer in the 1950s. Written by the prolific Harry Wincott.
This song was a hit for Harry Bedford in the late 1890s, sheet music might have been published then, but the only surviving copy seems to be a version published in 1911 . It was recorded in 1899 by professional recording artist Charles Foster, this was a a time when many recordings were made by professional recording singers rather than the stars themselves.
{I have added an extra verse after the sheet music became available 30/1/23}
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A3554
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and sheet music: Feldman’s Second Giant Budget of Songs
- Sheet Music: not viewed but available at University of Oxford library.
- Transcription of Harry Elliott’s performance at Sussex Traditions
- Ballad Index