{"id":19446,"date":"2023-04-07T06:28:23","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T06:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=19446"},"modified":"2025-12-11T07:25:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T07:25:58","slug":"golden-dustman-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/golden-dustman-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Dustman, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1897<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>E. Graham and George Le Brunn<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23550<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Gus Elen<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Copper, Jim; England : Sussex; 1936
Keeping Family; England : London; 1930s-50s
Modern performances<\/strong>
Cosmotheka<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Me and old Bill Smiff's bin dust-'oys\nAllus worked the same old rahnd\nStrange to say we've struck a Klondyke\nAnd we've shared the welf we fahnd\n'Ow it 'appened, there's a miser\n'Ud never let us shift 'is dust\nA Toosday night 'e died, and Wensday\nLike two burglars in we bust\nGets to work and blest yer eye-sight\nOh, such a welf yer never saw\n'Apeneys, fardens, lor, in fousands\nAnd to fink that last week I was poor.\n\nBut nah I'm goin' to be a regular toff\nA ridin' in a carriage and a pair\nA top 'at on my 'ead, and fevvers in my bed\nAnd call meself a dook o' Barnet Fair\nAs-terry-my-can rahnd the bottom o' my coat\nA Piccadilly winder in my eye\nAh, fancy all the dustmen a-shoutin' in my yer\n'Leave us in yer will before yer die'.<\/em>\n\nStuck inside a rusty saucepan\nWot looked a worn out mat\nClose in-spec-shun, 'twas a stocking\nFull o' nuggets - big as that\nDown we flops upon our kneeses\nSee my scoopin' up the welf\nWhen up I jumps, oh! oh! so happy\n'Ardly could believe meself\nThe Guvnor just nah sez 'Come, 'Iggins,\n'Ere get to work, yer looks 'arf tight'\n'Get to work, 'ere who yer kiddin'?\nYer can dine wiv me next Sunday night.'\n\nIn the Summer I'll go yachting\nWith the dooks and the Em-per-ors\nIn the autumn spot yer 'umble\nShooting grouses on the moors\nWhat price me drivin' tandem\nWiv a cahntess at me side?\nIf she likes to pop the question\nWell, I'll consent to be 'er bride\nAs for low in-sin-u-a-tions\nAs regards my style and sich\nWell, I'll soon teach 'em ettiketty\nIf I slaps this 'cross their snitch.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A hit song from the late 1890s sung by cockney comedian Gus Ellen<\/a>. It has been collected from the singing of Jim Copper and recalled from a Cockney family\u2019s singing habits, both in the 1930s. A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Golden Dustman”<\/em> had previously been used as a nickname for two  Victorian characters who rose from rags to riches, one real and one fictional.  The real character was William Henry Dodd (d1881), a wealthy ship owner who rose from being a ploughboy in Hackney, making his fortune by removing London’s waste via barges on the River Thames. The fictional one was Nicodemus Boffin, a nouveaux riche character in the Dickens novel Our Mutual Friend<\/em> (1865). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other songs of Elen sung by traditional singers have included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n