Hot Ashfelt, The

Broadside version from The word on the street

GOOD evening to ye, Glasgow boys, I'm glad to see ye well,
I'm consaytier myself to night than any tongue can tell,
For I'm in a situation - oh, begor! a fancy job,
N'hye, an' whisper, I've a weekly wage of fifteen bob.
Tis a twelvemonth now come Easter since I left Bundoran town,
Where I helped uncle Barney to cut the harvest down;
Och, but now I wear a garnsey, an' round my waist a belt,
For I'm gaffer ov the rain that makes the hot ashfelt.

You talk about your sogers, your sailors and the rest,
Your shoemakers an' tailors, but to plase the ladies best
The only boys that have a chance their flinty hearts to melt
Are the boys around the boiler makin' hot ashfelt.

Thim boys that I've undher me, outside an' in the yard
Have the narve to turn about an' say I work them rather hard;
'Och, but when they raise me dandher, an' I give a murther shout,
You should see thim lazy shaughrauns how they stir the tar about.
You may do a bit ov schulpturin, or paintin' at your aize
Shure any ov them fine arts are as aisy as you plaze;
But it takes a power ov head-work, boys, thim lumps ov' tar to melt,
You must be born a janius to make the hot ashfelt.

The other day a bobby comes to me an' says, M'Guir
Will ye kindly let me light this dudheen at your boiler fire ;
Thin he plants himself before the fire, with coat-tails up so nate,
Says I my dacent man, ye'd better go an' mind your bate
Thin he turns an' says I'm down on ye, I've got your bloomin' marks,
An' I know ye for a lot ov Tipperary barks.
Boys, I hit straight from the shoulder, an' I gave him such a welt,
That knockee him in the boiler full ov hot ashfelt

They quickly pulled him out again an' threw him in a tub
An' wid soap an' wather they began to rub an' schrub ;
But the divil a bit of tar came off, it turned as hard as stone,
An' at every schrape they gave him you'd hear the bobby groan.
Wid the wather an' the schrubbin', faith, he caught his death ov cold,
Be for scientific purposes the peeler has been sold.
In the Kelvingrove muzayum he is hangin' by a belt,
An example of the dire effects ov hot ashfelt.

A late 19th-century comic Irish song from the Glasgow Music Halls, later collected from traditional singers in England, Scotland and Ireland. In the late 1960s it was a particularly popular song in the repertoire of Jimmie McGregor and Robin Hall, who described this song as an old music hall song of the type that we call ‘Glasgow Irish’

My diggings have confirmed this – the original song seems to have been written by Glasgow-based songwriter and barber Thomas Johnstone. It was first sung by Irish comedian, Arthur Young in the late 1870s. (A brief biography of Young appears below). The earliest references to a song called The Hot Ashfelt that I can find are in two notices published in The Era in February 1878, which strangely give two different composers for the music.

Some years later, in 1892 a newspaper article made passing reference to the song being sung “some 20 years ago” by Dan Montgomery (21 December 1892, Glasgow Evening Post) but I have found no evidence to back this up, so their correspondent may have misremembered.

The Hot Ashfelt seems to have been an extremely popular song in the repertoire of late 19th-century amateur singers in Scotland, Ireland and England. I have found newspaper reports showing that it was regularly being sung by amateurs within six months of the songs being advertised in the Halls (in August 1878) right up to the beginning of the 20th century. If you are interested see Appendix!

The song seems to have maintained its popularity, or perhaps had a revival, in the early 20th century – it was published as sheet music in 1908, described as: a humorous song written and composed by T Johnstone, music arranged by WT Peterson. In 1905 it was recorded by JM Ward for Columbia records. In 1917 it was recorded by Charlie Collins and released as a 78 by Zonophone records.

Ewan MacColl substantially rewrote the song for the 1959 Radio Ballads program Song of a Road

A note on the words: I have provided a broadside version of the lyrics which is likely to be as close as we can get to the words that were originally sung in the Halls of the 1870s. I am currently trying to get hold of the 1908 sheet music, which may allow interesting comparisons. Modern versions of this song vary considerably in their lyrics, not least because many singers sing some or all of the substantially revised Ewan MacColl version. (Quite right too! One of the joys of singing these songs is that you can construct your own version drawing on the many different variants in circulation…)

A brief biography of Arthur Young

I have pieced together the following biography of Arthur Young from reports in The Era, but there is much that we don’t know, including his date of birth and year of death. We do know that he was an Irish comic, dancer and violinist active between the late 186os and 1890s. There seem to be several performers using the name “Arthur Young” but based on contemporary descriptions I will assume that the Irish comic is not the Arthur Young who gave theatrical recitations of Shakespeare in the 1850s and 60s, or Master Arthur Young – the young comic singer who started performing in the late 1890s.

Arthur Young, the Irish comic, had considerable success and appeared in Halls both in the provinces and in London, though he seems to have been particularly successful in Scotland and Ireland. In the 1870s and 80s he was billed as “the aristocratic Hibernian comic Singer” and specialised in comic portrayals of the Irish upper classes. (At this time many performers specialised in Irish material, whether they came from Ireland or not, so we cannot assume anything about where he was born). For a time in the late 1870s he worked as part of a double act with another comic Will Atkins. Here is a review of a solo performance at The Metropolitan (London) in 1872:

Unfortunately he was taken ill in 1887 and lost his eyesight. Collections and benefit concerts were organised in his support, most notably the funds organised by George Ripon and Charles Coburn. He continued to perform as a blind singer and violinist until 1892 when he seems to have suffered a breakdown in his mental health.

Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor sing The Hot Asphalt:

Ewan McColl sings his version:

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%3A2134
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics: Broadside dated 1880-1900, The WORD on the STREET, National Library of Scotsmen
• Sheet Music (1908) held at British Library (not accessed yet)
• Jimmie Macgregor and Robin Hall (1970) Singing our own at archive.com
• Columbia recording
• Mudcat thread
• Fresno Ballad Index
• Selected articles illustrating the life of Arthur Young. Taken from The Era unless otherwise indicated. Initial appeal for help from George Ripon (26 February 1887). Benefit concert at the Wellington Palace Glasgow (24 September 1887). Charles Coburn launches an appeal to try to raise £50 to help Young, includes appeal directly from Young (8 September 1888). Coborn struggled to reach his target and made further appeals (13th October 1888, 10 November 1888, 2 February 1889). He continued to appear in the Halls, billed as a “blind vocalist” (1 February 1890, 12 December 1891)