{"id":17685,"date":"2022-11-11T10:12:20","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T10:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=17685"},"modified":"2024-11-22T08:00:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T08:00:11","slug":"tramp-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/tramp-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Tramp, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>You’re up one day and down the next
The old tramp’s song
The tramp’s philosophy<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1908<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Charles Collins and Harry Castling<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN10672<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Ida Barr<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
unknown; England : Staffordshire : 1952
Bradley, May; England : Shropshire : 1959
Mills, Bob; England : Hampshire : 1978
Modern Performances<\/strong>
Jon Wilks<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"The Tramp\" as sung by Jon Wilks:\n\nAn old tramp was resting\nOne day down by the lane\nWhen a gang of young sportsmen came by\nThey passed many jokes on his old tattr'd coat\nAnd the tramp he look up and he sighed\n\nYou may laugh, you may chaff\nJust because I am down in the world\nWhen you find out to your sorrow\nYou're up today and down tomorrow\nWell you can't put a stop to misfortune\nFor whatever will be will be\nI might have been up in the world like you\nAnd you might have been down like me<\/em>\n\n\"He looks just like a scarecrow\"\nSaid some young fellow there\n\"Like a bag of old rags left untied\"\nAnd the sportsmen they laughed\nAt the joke of their friend\nAnd the tramp he looked up and replied\n\nMisfortune it came down\nThrough the top of my hat\nAnd lower and lower I feel\nAnd from this day to that\nWhen the sportsmen they met\nThey'd recount the old tramp's ordeal\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A sentimental song from the Halls remembered by several traditional English singers, it was originally associated with Music Hall performer Ida Barr, from a time before she became particularly associated with ragtime (her brief biography appears below). It was written by Charles Collins<\/a> and Harry Castling<\/a>. At some point I hope to be able to access the sheet music to provide the original lyrics, but for now I have provided the excellent version sung by Jon Wilks, who talks about the song in the YouTube clip below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Ida Barr (1882-1967)<\/strong> originally sang under the name Maud Laverne. Her father was a soldier and she was born in Regent Park’s barracks in London. At the age of 15, much to her father’s disapproval, she ran away to become a chorus girl, making her stage debut in 1898 in Belfast. In 1910 she changed her name to Ida Barr and was briefly a successful performer in New York. She returned to England in 1911 and became arguably England’s best known ragtime singer – she popularised Nat D Ayer’s Oh you beautiful doll <\/em>(1910) and Irving Berlin’s Everybody’s doin’ it now<\/em> (1911) in the Halls. She continued to perform in the 30s and 40s but would have ended her days in poverty in the 1960s were it not for a revival of interest in the Halls that a very late boost to her career.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Jon Wilks tells the story of how he found the song and sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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