Old Sow,The

From the Levy Collection

The Little Pigs
A favourite Glee
Composed by Alexander Lee

Our little pigs lie on very good straw,
Straw [grunt] aw [whistle] aw, shin dan diddle daw
Our little pigs lie on very good straw,
Lillibul lero, Lillbul lero 
Lillibul lero, Lillbul lero 
My dad was a bonnie wee man
Man [grunt] an [whistle] an, shin dan diddle dan
My dad was a bonnie wee man
Lillibul lero, Lillbul lero 
My dad was a bonnie wee man
Man [grunt] an [whistle] an, shin dan diddle dan
My dad was a bonnie wee man

Our little pigs eat the best of prates,
Prates [grunt] ates [whistle] ates, shin dan diddle dates
Our little pigs eat the best of prates

Our little pigs make the best of bacon,
Bacon, [grunt] acon,[whistle] acon, shan diddle dacon !
Our little pigs make the best of bacon,

And there's an end to our little song,
Song, [grunt] ong, [whistle] ong, dan diddle dong 
And there's an end to our little song,

The Old Sow
As recorded by Albert Richardson

There was an old farmer he had an old sow
[snort] -ow- [grunt] -ow- [whistle] -ididly dow, 
Susannah's a funniful man 
[snort] an' [grunt] an' [whistle] ididly dan. 
Sing, lassie, go rings-arillo 
Susannah's a funniful man 
[snort] an' [grunt] an' [whistle] ididly dan. 
Susannah's a funniful man

Now this old sow she had some little pigs, 

Now these little pigs they muddled their muck, 

Now these little pigs they had some clean straw, 

Now these little pigs they had some curly tails, 

Now these little pigs they had to be stuck, 

Now these little pigs they made some nice bacon, 

Now these little pigs they made a bit of ham

A widely performed comic song collected numerous times from source singers in England throughout the 20th century, it is also well known in the US. Later singers may well have picked up the song from Albert Richardson’s Regal Zonophone recording from 1928.

It was originally composed in three part harmony by the singer/composer Alexander Lee who was active in the theatres and supper clubs of 1820s London. (The supper clubs were an important early influence on the music halls.) The earliest printed reference I can find is an advert for new music published in Dublin by I.Willis: