{"id":17350,"date":"2022-10-25T13:34:52","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=17350"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:55:34","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:55:34","slug":"poor-but-a-gentleman-still","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/poor-but-a-gentleman-still\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor but a gentleman still"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>A gentleman still
Gypsy Girl<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1876<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>John J Stamford<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN7337<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fred Coyne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Short, Mrs. Lillian USA : Missouri : 1940
Van de Bogart, Aaron; USA : New York : 1948
Young, Freeman; Canada : Nova Scotia : 1953
Vass, John Daniel; USA : Virginia : Hillsville 1958
Cooper, Lena; England : Kent : 1966 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Wehman's Universal Songster Vol 28<\/strong>\navailable at TraditionalMusic.co.uk<\/a>\n\n\nDon't think by my dress that I've come here to beg,\nThough the sharp pangs of hunger I feel;\nThe cup of misfortune I've drained to the dregs.\nBut I'm proud, though I'm shabby-genteel.\nA time was when nobs who met me would say,\n\"Ha, Harry, dear boy, come and dine;\"\nBut now when they meet they look t'other way-\nMy company now they decline.\n\nThough poverty daily looks in at my door,\nI am hungry, I am footsore And ill,\nI can look the whole world in the face and say,\n\"If I'm poor, I'm a gentleman still.\"<\/em>\n\nReverses in business brought me to a stand-\nI found very Boon I should smash;\nMy friends advised me to fly from the land,\nAnd seize upon all my loose cash;\nBut my reputation was dearer to me\nThan all the bright gold in my till,\nSo I paid what I owed, and proudly I said,\n\"If I'm poor, I'm a gentleman still.\" \n\nOne evening last week, the other end of the town,\nWhilst wandering sadly along,\nI picked up a purse a lady had dropped-\nThe temptation to keep it was strong-\nMy pockets were empty, but firmly I said,\n\"She shall have her own, come what will;\"\nShe looked at my dress as I gave it and said,\n\"If you're poor, you're a gentleman still.\" \n\nLast evening I rescued a poor, homeless girl\nWhom a swell was insulting; I found\nMy strength for the moment was something immense,\nAs I hurled the great brute to the ground.\nHe cried out, \"You beggar, don't meddle with me,\nOr very soon you'll  get a pill;\"\nBut I said, \"Lay a hand on that girl and you'll find\nIf I'm poor, I'm a gentleman still.\" <\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song written and composed by John J Stamford<\/a>, which first featuring in the repertoire of Fred Coyne (1845-86), a British performer often billed as The Sterling  Comic. <\/em>The earliest record we have of the song being sung professionally is in 1876:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era – Sunday 30 January 1876<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
It was a popular song amongst amateur performers in Britain and there are numerous reports of it featuring in amateur concerts from 1877 on. According to the authors of Folk Songs of the Catskills <\/em>it was popularised in the USA by William J Scanlon, who first performed it at the New York’s Olympic Theatre in 1879. No sheet music  seems to have survived, but several sources suggest it was published in the US copyright EH Harding in 1876.  At around that time it appeared in America in Scanlan & Cronin’s<\/em> Poor but a gentleman still songster <\/em>(publication date unknown) and widely in other 19th century street literature on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was recorded in the late 1920s by Oscar L Coffey, an early old time\/country music recording artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not to be confused with Harry Clifton’s Shabby Genteel<\/em> <\/a>a song  with a similar theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n