{"id":7137,"date":"2020-11-24T16:09:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T16:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=7137"},"modified":"2020-11-26T09:22:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T09:22:41","slug":"brown-upside-down","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/brown-upside-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown upside down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1884<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Walter Hastings<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN3354<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Will Bint<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Showers, Charlie 1972 England : Somerset
Palmer, Freda 1974 England : Oxfordshire
Hall, Mabs 1980s England : Sussex
Howard, Arthur 1981 England : Yorkshire
Modern performances<\/strong>
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Now Jobson Brown was a worn-out clown\nAnd a careful clown was he.\nHe'd saved enough to open a pub,\nSomewhere in Kensal Green.\nYou never could forget the tricks\nBy which he earned his daily bread,\nAnd now and then, when the fit came on,\nHe'd stand upon his head.\n\nAll the people shouted out, 'Oh, my'.\nAll the people they did stare.\nFor there was Brown, he was upside down,\nWith his legs sticking up in the air.<\/em>\n\nNow the nearest neighbour to old Brown,\nWas a widow, Mrs Birch.\nHe proposed to her.  She answered 'Yes',\nSo they toddled off to church.\n'Will you love and obey this man?'\nThe worldly parson said.\nShe blushed and screamed, for there was Brown\nA-standing on his head.\n\nThe parson gave a scream, and shouted out 'Oh, my'\nAnd all the people they did stare;\nFor there was Brown, he was upside down,\nWith his legs sticking up in the air.<\/em>\n\nA-twelve month after a child was born,\nTo the great delight of Brown.\nIt was the image of himself\nAnd a regular little clown.\nBefore the child was six weeks old\nIt scrambled out of bed,\nAnd to the nurse's great surprise\nWas standing on his head.\n\nThe nurse she gave a scream and shouted out 'Oh, my'\nAs she fainted away in the chair;\nFor there was young Brown, he was upside down,\nWith his legs sticking up in the air.<\/em><\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song from the Halls of the 1880s, remembered by traditional singers in Yorkshire and elsewhere in England. Aside from the sheet music I have yet to find any surviving examples existing in printed form.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The song was written by Walter Hastings , who was actively publishing Music Hall songs in the 1880s and 1890s . It was popularised by Will Bint (1853-1913) aka Billie ‘Beau’ Bint, a popular comic who barely features in the standard histories of the Halls. The only reference to him I have found are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n