{"id":26167,"date":"2025-02-14T10:29:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=26167"},"modified":"2025-02-14T10:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:29:29","slug":"row-upon-the-stairs-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/row-upon-the-stairs-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Row upon the stairs, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1865<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Joe Wilson<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN24960<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Joe Wilson<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Stockman\/ Reeve \/McGuckin ; Canada : Nova Scotia ; 1944
Modern performances<\/strong>: Alex Glasgow, Brian Watson<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Joe Wilson's Tyneside songs, ballads and drolleries Part 1<\/em> (c1865) quoted  in Dave Harker (2017) The Gallowgate Lad<\/em> p11:

To the tune Yankee Doodle Uncle Sam<\/em>

Says Mistress Bell to Mistress Todd 
\u201cYe'd better clean the stairs!
Ye\u2019ve missed yor turn for monny a week, 
The neybors a\u2019 did theirs!\u201d
Says Mistress Todd te Mistress Bell, 
Aw toll ye Mitress Bell,
Ye\u2019d batter mind yor awn affairs, 
An\u2019 clean the stairs yorsel!\u201d

Oh what tungs i\u2019 the row upon the stairs, 
Clitterin, clatterin, scandal, an\u2019 clash, 
I\u2019 the row upon the stairs.<\/em>

Says Mistress Todd \u2014 \u201cwhen it suits ma 
Te think that it\u2019s me turn,
Ye've a vast o\u2019 check te order me, 
Thor\u2019s not a wummin born
That keep\u2019s a cleaner hoose than me, 
An\u2019 mark ye, Mistress Bell,
Ef yo\u2019d oney de tho syem as me, 
Yo'd gan an\u2019 clean\u2014yorsel!\u201d

Says Mistress Bell \u2014 \u201cye clarty fah, 
We was\u2019t that stole the beef?\u201d
What do ye say ?\u201d cries Mistress Todd, 
\u201cDe ye mean that aw\u2019m a thief?
Let's heh the sixpence thas aw lent 
Te treat Meg Smith wi\u2019 gin!
An\u2019 where's the blanket that ye gat
The last time ye lay in?\u201d

Says Mistress Bell \u2014 \u201cye knaw yorsel 
The sixpence\u2019s lang been paid,
An\u2019 the raggy blanket that ye lent 
Was ne use thon ye said!\u201d 
\u201cA raggy blanket! Mistress Bell,\u201d 
Cries Mistress Todd \u2014 \"what cheek! 
Yor dorty stocking had two holes
Full twice the sizo last week!\u201d ,

\u201cMaw holey stockins, Mistress Todd, 
Luks better i\u2019 the street
Than yor gud man\u2019s awd blucher beuts
Ye weer te hide yor feet!
The eer-rings ye gat frae the Jew 
On tick the tuthor day,
'Il be like the fine manadge man\u2019s shawl, 
The syem as gien away!\u201d

Says Mistress Todd \u2014 \u201cye greet sk\u2019yet gob, 
Ye\u2019d better had yor jaw,
The varry shift upon yor back 
Belangs the wife belaw!\u201d\u2019
\u201cYe lazy wretch\" \u2014 shoots Mistress Bell, 
\"It\u2019s true, thor is ne doot, 
Last neet ye fuddled wi\u2019 Bob the Snob 
The time yor man wes oot!\u201d

\u201cOh, Mistress Bell!\" \u2014 says Mistress Todd, 
\u201cYe brazind-lucking slut,
Ye may tawk away \u2014 te clean the stairs 
Aw\u2019ll nivor stir a fut!
Afore aw\u2019d lift a skoorin cloot 
The mucky stairs te clean,
Aw\u2019'd see them turn as black as ye, 
Ye pawnshop luckin queen!\u201d<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A famous Tyneside Music Hall dialect song from the 1860s, written and performed by the star of the early Tyneside Halls\u00a0Joe Wilson<\/a>. Like many local Music Hall songs of this period, it was sung to well known earlier tune, in this case, the tune of an American song Yankee Doodle Uncle Sam<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[American broadsides of Yankee Doodle Uncle Sam<\/em> in turn suggest that song should be sung to the tune Bag of Nails<\/em> (RN26083)]<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dave Harker explains the lyrics: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The lyrics were about two women arguing over whose turn it was to clean the communal tenement stairs. They used terms like \u2018clarty fah\u2019 (dirty gypsy) and \u2018sk\u2019yet gob\u2019 (skate mouth), and listed each other\u2019s improprieties including thefts, wearing \u2018blucher beuts\u2019 (so called after the 18th century general Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher), drinking with a shoemaker when her husband was out, cheating a Jewish hawker and a \u2018manadge man\u2019 who sold goods on tick, and being a frequent and unwashed visitor to the pawnshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Dave Harker (2017)<\/em> The Gallowgate Lad<\/em> p11 <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Brian Watson sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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