Man you don’t meet every day, A (Jock Stewart)

"Music Hall version" from The English Ballads Archive from a broadside published between 1850 and 1900.

I've a neat little mansion that's build of mud,
Not far from the county of Kildare;
I've got acres of land and I grow my own spuds,
I've enough and a little to spare.
Well don't think I've come over to look for a job,
It's only a visit to pay,
So be easy and free while you're drinking with me
I'm the man you don't meet every day.

So fill up your glasses and drink whatever you please,
Whatever's the damage I'll pay.
You can be easy and free when you're drinking with me
I'm the man you don't meet every day.

When I landed in Liverpool, Oh, what a sight!
Met my eyes as I gazed at the shore
There was Paddy McCullen and young Paddy White
Michael Lames and one or two more,
They all burst out laughing when they saw me walk
And treated me in a fine way
Says I look here you two scare crows don't think I am a ghost
I am the man you don't meet every day

There's a neat little colleen that lives about here
And it's her I've come over to see.
And we're going to be married next Sunday and then
She'll come back to Old Ireland with me.
And if you come over twelve months from to day,
And this I will venture to say,
We shall have a fine lad who will say to his dad:
He's the man you don't meet every day.

When I landed in Bradford a few days ago
I thought I would go to the Star,
And the first man I saw there was Paddy McGee
With a glass of best ale at the bar.
Well I spoke to him kindly, took him by the hand,
And these words to him I did say:
Be easy and free when you're drinking with me
I'm the man you don't meet every day.”

Jock Stewart as sung by Sheila Stewart
I'm a canny gaun man,
And a roving young fellow I've been.
Oh, my name is Jock Stewart,

So be easy and free
When you're drinkin wi' me.
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

I have acres of land,
I have men at command;
I have always a shilling to spare.

I'm a piper by trade,
I'm a roving young blade,
And it's many the tunes I do play.

So be easy and free
When you're piping wi' me.
I'm a man you don't meet every day.

Let us catch well the hours
And the minutes that fly,
And we'll share them together this day.

Now, I took out my gun,
With my dog I did shoot
All down by the River Kildare.

So, come fill up your glasses
Of brandy and wine,
And whatever the cost, I will pay.

This complex story provides new evidence supporting suggestions made by Chris Wright in his article Forgotten broadsides and the song tradition of the Scots travellers….

This folksong, popular throughout the English-speaking world, has often been described as originating in the Scottish or Irish Music Halls. My delving in 19th-century newspapers seems to confirm this and we can now be reasonably sure that it was first sung by an Irish-American comic largely based in Belfast, WJ Ashcroft. It was probably written for him by his principal songwriter and manager, John J Stamford. Ashcroft was one of many performers who specialised in stage-Irish songs which drew on Irish stereotypes to comic effect. These songs were particularly popular in the late 19th century and were widely sung in the Halls, concert parties and parlours, throughout the English-speaking world. The professional stage comedians who sang them were sometimes Irish, sometimes not. Ashcroft often appeared as the on-stage character The Solid Man, a confident on-the-make Irish-American and its likely that he sang the A man you don’t meet… as this character.

The earliest reference that I can find to it being sung is in December 1876 in Liverpool at the New Star Music Hall.

Ashcroft describes the song as a New Character Song, strongly suggesting that the song had recently been written. Most of Ashcroft’s original songs were written for him by his manager John J Stamford and after Stamford’s death in 1899, it was reported that

Among the ditties which he wrote for the Alhambra proprietor [Ashcroft] were such well-known ones as The Man you don’t meet every day (the first song he ever wrote).

Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, Saturday 27 May 1899

The song was widely published in street literature – various broadsides and songsters include the song, originating on both sides of the Atlantic. Many of these are undated, but where convincing publication dates are given, they all come from the late 19th century, well after my suggested origin in 1876.

The longer text reproduced above is from an undated English Broadside held by the National Library of Scotland. It seems to be the longest version available in that it has four rather than three stanzas. It has references to Bradford and Liverpool, so it’s reasonable to think that this is something like version that would be sung by WJ Ashcroft in the British Halls of the late 1870s. It’s conceivable that all subsequent versions, including the popular version sung by Sheila Stewart given above, could be based on variations/contractions of this.

The earliest printed versions from the US or Canada I have found so far, date from 1881 – sheet music published by William JA Lieder in New York and words in Volume 183 of Henry de Marsan Singers’ Journal. These 2 versions are almost identical lyrically: they lose the last verse, change the names of people and places and increase the indicators of stage-Irish for example using the spelling “bhoy”. The sheet music states that the song was “written and composed by William Ashcroft, sung with great success by Paddy Murphy of The Murphys”. Despite being based in Britain and Ireland after 1876, Ashcroft still occasionally toured in the USA, and may well have sold the rights to sing it to other performers/publishers. Stamford is not credited in the American version , but at that time it was not uncommon for sheet music to be published in America without fully crediting songwriters/composers from Britain and Ireland.

I have not attempted as yet to trace the evolution of the song in America and Canada, but I have found evidence of its popularity in the late 19th century on this side of the Atlantic. In Britain and Ireland contemporary newspaper reports show that the song was popular amongst amateur singers in the 1880s and 90s, but there are no records of it being sung by amateurs before 1881 , which perhaps supports the contention that it was first written in the late 1870s. It appears in the lists of songs sung at the following events:

• 1881 at a social meeting of the Amicable Brothers Angling Society (in London?) by J.Worledge (Fishing Gazette March 26, 1881)
• 1884 at the Midland Railway Company Employees Supper by Mr T Redhead (Lancaster Gazetteer, January 12, 1884)
• 1886 at the annual concert of the Neston Cricket Club by a performer who may have been semiprofessional – the event “narrowly escaped failure” – see cutting below (Cheshire Observer December 4, 1886)
• 1891 at the Annual Soirée in Braintree Schoolhouse given by Rev P Bookey and Mrs Bookey, it was sung by Mr George H Marshall. Reported under news related to the Church of Ireland (Belfast newsletter September 4, 1891)
• 1892 at a concert at Dunsverick Parochial School, Bushmills, N. Ireland, by Mr Patterson (Belfast newsletter October 19 1892)
• 1892 at a smoking concert held by the committee of the Horringer and Ickworth Village Club, by Mr F Garwood (Bury and Norwich Post October 25 1892)
• 1893 at a hot pot supper and smoking concert by the dock staff for the American Line, by Mr John Bannon (Southampton Herald December 9, 1893)
• 1894 at a presentation for an employee of the Pier and Joint Railway Companies, by Mr Harrison (Isle of Wight Observer December 22, 1894)

The song was revived in the British Halls in the late 1890s by Dan Paulton (The Era, March 12 1898) and it would be worth exploring further what impact (if any) Paulton’s version had.

Scouring the usual sources doesn’t reveal any record of it being published as sheet music in Britain or Ireland, though if you know different I’d love to hear.

In the folk world on both sides of the Atlantic, the song has survived in two main versions, one derived from the singing of Jeannie Robertson and the Stewart family – a key song in the Scots’ Traveller tradition. The verses of the Stewart version have changed considerably from the Ashcroft/Stamford version, but the chorus and tune are so similar to the US sheet music that its pretty clear that one comes from the other. The other, less common, version in the folk world is much closer to the longer Ashcroft/Stamford “Music Hall” version: there is an excellent performance by Amy Ford collected by Bob and Jacqueline Patton in 1974 available at the VWML here

Sheila Stewart sings it:

Sources:

• VWML entry
• Lyrics: Broadside held by National Library of Scotland
• Mainly Norfolk entry
• Mudcat: thread #1, thread#2, thread #3, thread #4
• Chris Wright: Forgotten Broadsides and the Tradition of the Scots Travellers in Atkinson/Roud: Street Ballads
• Henry de Marsan’s Singers’ Journal, Vol 183, p659, ca1881, Hathi Trust
• US Sheet Music(1881): Library of Congress
• Death of Mr John J Stamford, Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, May 27 1899.

Last Updated on February 23, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: August 20, 2020