The poem Old Grimes was published by Albert Greene in 1822 and is available in several places on the net. Here's a copy from Old Grimes - wikisource:

Old Grimes is dead; that good old man,
      We ne'er shall see him more;
    He used to wear a long, black coat,
      All buttoned down before.

    His heart was open as the day,
      His feelings all were true;
    His hair was some inclined to gray,
      He wore it in a queue.

    He lived at peace with all mankind,
      In friendship he was true;
    His coat had pocket-holes behind,
      His pantaloons were blue.

    He modest merit sought to find,
      And pay it its desert;
    He had no malice in his mind,
      No ruffles on his shirt.

    His neighbours he did not abuse,
      Was sociable and gay;
    He wore large buckles on his shoes,
      And changed them every day.

    His knowledge, hid from public gaze,
      He did not bring to view,
    Nor make a noise town-meeting days,
      As many people do.

    His worldly goods he never threw
      In trust to fortune's chances,
    But lived (as all his brothers do)
      In easy circumstances.

    Thus undisturbed by anxious cares
      His peaceful moments ran;
    And everybody said he was
      A fine old gentleman.



The poem seems to have been published a lot thereafter. Walt Whitman did an imitative version in 1840 - Young Grimes

When old Grimes died, he left a son--
The graft of worthy stock;
In deed and word he shows himself
A chip of the old block.

In youth, 'tis said, he liked not school--
Of tasks he was no lover;
He wrote sums in a ciphering book,
Which had a pasteboard cover.

Young Grimes ne'er went to see the girls
Before he was fourteen;
Nor smoked, nor swore, for that he knew
Gave Mrs. Grimes much pain.

He never was extravagant
In pleasure, dress, or board;
His Sunday suit was of blue cloth,
At six and eight a yard.

But still there is, to tell the truth,
No stinginess in him;
And in July he wears an old
Straw hat with a broad brim.


Whether the song versions were based on the poems or whether Greene was inspired by the song would be an interesting question to answer.

Bartlett's Quotations 1919 offers these two in notes to the 1st verse of Old Grimes:

John Lee is dead, that good old man,—
We ne'er shall see him more;
He used to wear an old drab coat
All buttoned down before.

To the memory of John Lee, who died May 21, 1823.
An Inscription in Matherne Churchyard.

Old Abram Brown is dead and gone,—
    You'll never see him more;
He used to wear a long brown coat
    That buttoned down before.

Halliwell: Nursery Rhymes of England, p. 60.


The first quote from 1823 would suggest either that someone was quick at appropriating Greene's verse or (perhaps more likely?) that the verse was already in circulation.


Mick