{"id":18718,"date":"2023-02-08T19:02:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T19:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=18718"},"modified":"2023-03-17T07:18:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T07:18:06","slug":"wild-man-of-borneo-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/wild-man-of-borneo-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild man of Borneo, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>The wild man of Borneo has just come to town
The wild man of Poplar<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1890<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Unknown \/ George Le Brunn<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN2145<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>The Two Macs, Tennyson and O\u2019Gorman<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Neville, Alfred; England : Somerset; 1908
Hooper, Lorenzo; USA : Maine; 1941
Hawes, L.A.; USA : New Hampshire; c1941
Gallagher, Mrs. Edward; Canada : Nova Scotia; 1949 Phillips, Ben Wales : Pembrokeshire; 1952
Denley, Tom England : Gloucestershire; 1957
Ford, Mary; Canada 1963
Cook, Viola; USA : Kentucky; 1929-35
Modern performances<\/strong>
The Corries<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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THE WILD MAN OF BORNEO.<\/strong>\nAn Eccentric Comic Song or duet\nSung by The Two Macs.<\/em>\n\nThe wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken- The Wife\n\nThe wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The daughter\n\nThe daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The child\n\nThe child of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The dog\n\nThe dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The tail\n\nThe tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The hair\n\nThe hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The flea \n\nThe flea on the hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nSpoken - The whiskers\n\nThe whiskers on the flea on the hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.\n\nThe whiskers on the child of the ....\n[break off in confusion]\n\nRepeat each line four times\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A cumulative song sung by traditional singers throughout the English speaking world. Its origins are on the American vaudeville stage but it was widely sung in the British Halls.  I recommend singing the Poplar <\/em>variant to avoid the casual racism associated with the original….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The  Wild Man\/Men of Borneo was a name given to the Dayak peoples of Borneo, later used to name several American circus “freak show”acts going back to the 1840s. In the 1870s American-Irish comic Pat Rooney included “The ape-like antics of the Wild Man of Borneo”<\/em> in his vaudeville performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song came much later and was almost certainly  first performed in the USA in the  late  1880s America, its only relation to the circus performers may be that it draws on the language used to advertise circuses when they arrive in a new town. It was a big hit in American vaudeville theatres,  as suggested by this extract from a comic piece in a 1889 Seattle  newspaper:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer<\/em>, December 23, 1889<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In the British Music Halls it was sung by two different comedy duos: The Two Macs and Tennyson and O’Gorman: according to the British sheet music both acts sang it to a musical arrangement by George Le Brunn. (The Sheet Music gives no indication of who wrote the American version of the song) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Era<\/a>, 16 Aug 1890<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Tennyson and O’Gorman very quickly changed their version to The wild man of Poplar <\/em>perhaps to distinguish themselves from that of The Two Macs. It apparently featured in the repertoire of the politician Lloyd George!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Corries sing it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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