{"id":9049,"date":"2021-02-17T23:29:52","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T23:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=9049"},"modified":"2021-02-17T23:33:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T23:33:44","slug":"three-flies-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/three-flies-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Flies, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1818<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Thomas Hudson<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1290<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Thomas Hudson<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Messenger, Charles; England, Gloucestershire, 1914-16
Modern performances<\/strong>
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From Thomas Hudson's 1st Collection of Comic Songs (1818)<\/strong> \n\nTHERE were three flies, once on a time,\nResolved to travel and change their clime,\nFor they neither cared for father nor mother,\nFor uncle nor aunt, nor sister, nor brother,\nThe first was a yellow one, the second was blue,\nAnd the third was a green one to the view;\nSo off they set with merry hums,\nAnd told their parents to kiss their bums,\n                    \nBut they too saucy were by half;\nI can't sing if you do laugh,\nSo shut your mouths, and list to me,\nTiddle liddle lol, and tiddle liddle lee,\nAnd take a lesson from a fly,\nDon't give way to lux\u2014u\u2014ry.<\/em>\n\nThey had not got far when the yellow one cries,\nLook down my boys, a dinner I spies;\nBut the blue-bottle answer'd\u2014upon my word,\nI sees nothing but a large cow t\u2014\u2014d\nA cow t\u2014\u2014d? well, there's good in that;\nI'm sure it looks monstratious fat;\nAnd I wish as how I may go to Davy,\nIf I don't have some of that rich gravy,\n\nAway then flew the other two,\nJacky Green and Tommy Blue ;\nThey flow'd on fast and did not stop,\n'Till they came opposite to a butcher's shop,\n\" Oh, oh, says the blue-bottle, ' Here's a treat !\nI'm particularly fond of butcher's meat,\"\nSays t'other, says he \" Then off I go,\nFor I don't care for meat, you know.,\n\nFar off then by himself he flow'd,\nAnd into a grocer's shop he goed ;\nAnd there he play'd some saucy rigs,           \nFor he danc'd among the sugar, and the plums, and the figs,\nThe day being hot, he took a whim,\nAnd thought in some treacle he should like to swim;\nSo without considering consequences, in he goes,\nAnd did'nt even stop to take off his clothes,\nBut the treacle he found too thick by half\n \nThe other two pass'd by the door,\nAnd heard a voice they'd heard before ;\nSo nearer to the sound they got,\n'Till they lighted on the treacle pot,\nThere they saw him almost dead,\nAnd thus to him the blue-bottle said,\nO Greeny, all our powers can't save ye,\nYou'd better have had our beef and gravy,\n\nBut you too dainty was by half, &c.<\/em>\n                      \nMORAL.\nNow all young men inclined to roam,\nTake my advice, and stay at home ;\nAnd be your fortunes dry or wet,\nBe content with what you get,\nAnd 'bout trifles make no fuss,\nFarther on you may fare worse,\nAnd mayhap when a great way off you've got,\nLike that poor fly you'll go to pot.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song originally written and performed by\u00a0Thomas Hudson (1791- 1844)<\/a>\u00a0a song-writer and performer active in the singing taverns and supper rooms that influenced the early Music Hall in London. He was in many ways a transitional figure \u2013 his songs reflected both elements of 18th century song and the future style of comic song that dominated the Halls. A number of his songs are bawdier than later  Music Hall  songs, reflecting their origins in London’s supper rooms which catered for what might now be called a more Bohemian audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many of Hudson\u2019s songs this one survives in multiple 19th century broadsheets and songbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several of his songs were remembered by traditional singers whose songs were picked up by folk song collectors in the late 19th and early 20th century. This song was collected by Alfred Williams from the singing of Charles Messenger and published in the Folk Songs of the Upper Thames<\/em> in 1923. The song that Messenger sang had lost much of the detail of the original:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Three  Flies<\/strong>
Popular at the inns<\/em>
It’s of three flies went roving,
All for to change their mind,
They took their loving parents
And left them far behind:
But they too saucy were by half,
And I can’t sing if you do laugh.

The first was a yellow,
The second was a blue,
The third was a green one,
And they soon went out of view
But they too saucy were by half,
And I can’t sing if you do laugh.

Now they went off with a merry him,
And told their parents to drink hot rum.
But they too saucy were by half,
And I can’t sing if you do laugh.<\/td><\/tr>
 Folk Songs of the Upper Thames<\/em>  p220<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n