I’m another

From The Music Hall Songster (1892)

My good-for-nothing brother, Bob 
Has caused me many tears;
He hasn't done a stroke of work
For five and twenty years.
He is what they call a traveller, or
In other words a tramp –
In fact, to put it plainly, 
He is a  lazy, loafing scamp.

And I'm another – I'm another, 
That's a simple fact I can't deny, 
Yes, I'm another like my brother,
He's a lazy moocher – so am I

Along the path of honesty,
He never tries to jog;
I've seen him toss a blind man,
Then attempt to sneak his dog.
He'll shoot the moon on quarter day, 
And pinch your glass of ale;
Believe me he's a vagabond,
Who ought to be in jail. 

And I'm another – I'm another,
That's a simple fact I can't deny,
Yes, I'm another like my brother,
He's a sherbet lifter – so am I

For lying, he has talent, and
The truth he never speaks;
The tales he tells would bring a blush,
To anybody's cheeks.
To fairly fling the hatchet, he
Appears to never tire;
He fairly wins the biscuit as
Old England's champion liar

And I'm another – I'm another,
That's a simple fact I can't deny,
Yes, I'm another like my brother,
He's a holy friar - so am I.

Although his head is full of bumps,
In size and shape immense,
The only one that's missing is
The bump of common sense
He always seems to act without 
A reason or a rule,
The doctors say my brother Bob's 
A poor fat headed fool!

And I'm another – I'm another,
That's a simple fact I can't deny,
Yes, I'm another like my brother,
He's off his crumpet so am I!

A music hall song seemingly only collected once from a traditional singer, it was collected from the singing of Bill Williams by Peter Kennedy in 1957 .

Written by Charles Osborne, this is one of the many Music Hall songs which was designed for extemporisation – for “making up” topical or audience-specific verses. Some performers would do this on the spot, others would prepare them in advance, and occasionally these appear in the published versions labelled as “additional verses”. The American sheet music referenced below is a good example of the latter, with several additional verses designed for the US audience.

Herbert Campbell (1846 – 1904) often billed as England’s Own Comedian, famously had a 15 year partnership in pantomime at the Drury Lane Theatre with Dan Leno. As a teenager Campbell worked as an engineer in a gun factory in Woolwich. He started his professional life as a blackface comedian in a minstrel troupe and also performed in temperance halls early in his stage career. A big man with a big voice, he specialised in parodies and topical songs, usually sung in a broad stage-Cockney accent. Late in his career, he tried unsuccessfully to move into management with Leno and Harry Randall. As was sadly the case with many Music Hall artistes, he received a rather snooty obituary in the mainstream press:

For many years he had enjoyed a run of uninterrupted success in London, which he owed principally to a strong voice of clear and penetrative power that never failed to reach the furthermost limits of any building, however large. With a style singularly lacking in variety, and himself constitutionally too bulky for dancing or other violent stage work ….. of late years he had sung nothing of any special note, but in former times such ballads as Oh! Ain’t It Awful?, When you come to think of it and Up I came with my little lot secured an extensive vogue.

Daily Telegraph, July 20, 1904