{"id":16325,"date":"2022-06-16T08:59:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T08:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16325"},"modified":"2022-06-16T08:59:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T08:59:10","slug":"manx-cat-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/manx-cat-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Manx Cat, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
First Published<\/td>1913<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Worton David and George Arthurs<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN27911<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Wilkie Bard<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Found in the notebook of Harry Cox <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When people go to the Isle of Man,\r\nThey must sing an Isle of Man song,\r\nAt least so I've heard; so I thought I'd look out,\r\nAnd find a new subject to write one about.\r\nThis morning, I saw a Manx Cat on a wall:\r\nI thought to myself \"This'll do!\"\r\nSo I wrote a chorus about a Manx cat,\r\nAnd I mean to try to you\r\n\r\nManx Cat, Manx Cat,\r\nWhy have you got no tail?\r\nYou seem all wrong,\r\nWith nothing behind you to steer you along.\r\nManx Cat. Manx Cat.\r\nSomething you seem to lack\r\nWithout your tail, we really can't tell\r\nIf you're going or coming back!<\/em>\r\n\r\nThere's something sad about poor Manx Cats\r\nThey've got to be like that for life,\r\nWe've all seen false hair and false teeth up for sale,\r\nBut no one has invented as yet a false tail\r\nYou've heard of the Manx man of course with three legs\r\nI don't know if that's only bluff,\r\nBut still it's not fair to give Manx men to much,\r\nWhile Manx Cats have not got enough!\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song copied out by hand into the notebook of the Harry Cox, one of the most widely respected English traditional singers. It may or may not be significant that it is the first song on page 1 of his first manuscript song book\u2026 It seems reasonable to assume that it may have appeared in his repertoire at some point but I’ve not able to find any evidence of him singing this song. The words written out in the manuscript are exactly the same as those in the Weekly Dispatch so it is very likely to have been copied out from a printed source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the 1870s the availability of steam ships from Liverpool made The Isle of Man a favourite holiday destination for  the working classes of Northern England:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Isle of Man is but little known to the higher classes of holiday-makers, though it is annually visited by many thousands of strangers. Those who flock thither are almost all persons of the lower middle class, and operatives from the thickly-populated towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire. They make but a short stay, they ramble over the island, and their loud provincial tones are heard in boisterous merriment. …. You see the best of the working class of the North away from their factories and workshops, and though your taste may be oftentimes offended at rude jokes and noisy merriment, yet they are essentially an independent and hard-working class, even in their amusements.\u00a0<\/p>The Spectator (London), December 1880<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A series of music halls and theatres were built to entertain the holiday makers and many stars of the Halls would spend time every Summer appearing there. The popularity of these holidays was reflected in the repertoire of Music Hall artists with songs like this one, others include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n