Good old days of Adam and Eve, The

THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF ADAM AND EVE
Tune - "Jingling Johnny"

I SING, I sing in jingling rhymes, Sirs, 
In praise of long-past good old times, Sirs; 
When female servants house-work would do. 
And dress'd themselves as servants should do; 
But now the servants, people tell us. 
Think of nought but running after the fellows; 
And all the wages that they gathers. 
Goes for finery, hats and feathers. 

Sing hey, sing ho, people grieve 
For the good old days of Adam and Eve. 
 
When near our houses might be seen fields, 
And a short walk took you to the green fields.
Where you might sing Nature's praises, 
Or pick a bough-pot of blooming daisies; 
But now if a man cannot endure all 
The noise of town, and wants to be rural, 
He'll find the charms of Nature undone. 
And a good day's journey to get out of London. 
 
When every man, whether wise or ninny, 
Was pleased at the sight of a good old guinea ;
The front of it had the old king's face on — 
The back, the royal arms and old spade ace on: 
But now there's a sovereign, and people tell you 
It is not worth so much in value;
For there's King George without a rag on. 
Galloping over an ugly dragon. 
 
When roast beef was eaten off platters wooden,. 
And no body neyer dined,without pudden; 
When songs were longer, and sung much louder. 
And beaux wore pig-tails, pomatum and powder; 
But now our beaux of pride are slighters, 
Keep company with gamblers and fancy fighters; 
And instead of hair-powder, great and small, now. 
Never comb their heads at all now. 
  
When rogues had a bold as well as a sly way, 
And went with pistols on the highway, 
Stopp'd the traveller, and without detail,
Robbed him of his cash by retail; 
But now despising petty stealers. 
Some are in robbery wholesale dealers. 
Get into credit — live quite dashing, 
And pay their debts with a clean white-washing. 
 
When drinking ale made strong men stronger. 
And doctors made folk live the longer;
Our grandfathers brew'd stout October, 
And thought it sinful to go to bed sober; 
Then was the time for games and gambols
When Oxford Street was covered with brambles. 
Hedges and ditches and ponds of water; 
But now there's nothing but bricks and mortar! 
 
When this very place, now cover'd over, 
Was a field of wheat, or perhaps of clover ; 
Two or three trees for the cattle to get under. 
Out of the way of the light'ning and thunder! 
No sounds were heard but the sweet birds singing. 
Except sometimes the Bow-bells ringing ! 
But now far off the birds are fled, Sirs, 
And we're the birds that sing instead. Sirs. 


THE SECOND PART OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF ADAM AND EVE. 

I SING, I sing in jingling rhymes. Sirs, 
In praise of long-lost good old times, Sirs, 
When old and young would every one rise 
Time enough to see the sun rise; 
But fashion plays a different tune now'
Folks don't get up till afternoon now; 
And all such healthy notions scorning, 
They get their night's rest in the morning. 

Sing hey, sing ho, people grieve 
For the good old days of Adam and Eve. 
 
When rogues^ whose necks strong halters suited,
Went in a cart to be executed;
Through the streets were mobs collecting
To Tyburn — and oh ! it was quite affecting. 
But now they hang them all at Newgate, 
And the crowd's so great, you can't a view get;
And though the parson prays and preaches. 
They never make no dying speeches. 
 
When all over England's happy island,
Churches and chapels were built on dry land; 
And on Sundays folks so gay there, 
In their best clothes went to pray there;
But now at novelty they grapples, 
There's swimming churches and floating chapels!
And what does more surprising seem. Sirs, 
There's prayers and sermons preach'd by steam. Sirs!
 
When round town there was many a score fields. 
And when old Bedlam stood in Moorfields,
Folk might stand by London Wall, Sirs, 
And plainly hear mad people bawl. Sirs;
But Bedlam was pull'd down, and in a hurry 
All the mad folks were moved to Surry; 
London Wall is down, I vow. Sirs, 
And Moorfields is no more fields now. Sirs.
 
When in our farm-yards hens would lay, Sirs, 
Producing eggs in the natural way, Sirs;
Then fondly sitting on and sticking. 
Till each egg produced a chicken; 
But now there's a man, who swears and vows and. 
Says his chickens can hatch by the thousand, 
And all by steam which so fast produces
He'll supply all London with ducks and gooses.
 
When people died, and this world's riot. 
Left and laid in their, graves so quiet,
Till the day of resurrection,
Nor dreamed of being dug up for dissection ; 
But now there are men, whose trade quite odd is. 
They go out of a night to steal dead bodies : 
To die in Town, the chance gadzooks is 
Ten to one but you go to Brookes's.  

A song which has passed into American traditional singing. It’s one of those songs designed for improvisation around a simple chorus, that in some hands can seem to go on forever! In traditional versions the verses vary considerably, but the chorus stays relatively constant.

The good old days of Adam and Eve (Parts one and two) was written by Thomas Hudson (1791- 1844) a song-writer and performer active in the singing taverns and supper rooms that influenced the early Music Hall in London. He was in many ways a transitional figure – his songs reflected both elements of 18th century song and the future style of comic song that dominated the Halls. [There is more on this on the Thomas Hudson page].

The song featured in the repertoire of another figure important to the development of the early Halls – the great improviser Charles Sloman (1808-1870) and in the earliest printed records I can find the song was being performed by him:

In the 1830s and 40s it was a hugely successful song for the comic actor Sam Vale (?-1848), who was recorded on one occasion at Sadler’s Wells Theatre:

…singing The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve with additional verses, for the space of half an hour, to the great gratification of the audience, who gave him a treble encore

Apr. 26, 1835;  The Sunday Times 

Like many of Hudson’s songs this one survives in multiple 19th century broadsheets and songbooks on both sides of the Atlantic.