Here's the sixth song. Notes as in booklet.
The Dog Fight (Darlaston).
Notes - From Dr. Fletcher's collection of Black Country songs. The chorus and the tune were added by M. Raven. The version sung by the Black Country Three omits verses 3, 7 and 10.The first two lines in verse 5 are joined with the last two lines of verse 6 to make one verse. As in the Wednesbury Cocking, the omissions and the addition of a chorus are effected to make a more manageable unit.
1.Down Sewerage Street where the smell ain't so sweet,
Ruff Moey* f1opped down on his flat bottomed feet,
And under his arm the Pride of 'Em All,
The bitch as could bite a bolt hole through a wall.
*See notes on Moses Whitehouse, first song.
Chorus -
And it's down, down, down, down they will go,
The Queen and the Pride together will go.
2.And back of the Bull Stake by Darlaston Green,
Ben Bates brought his bitch the Willenhall Queen,
The Queen had a mouth like a shark with the yaws,
And God help the dog as got stuck in her jaws.
3.At scratch on the sewer a hundred were stood,
They'd all backed their fancy and thirsted for blood.
They backed with the bookie each bitch at odds on,
No matter who lost he knew he had won.
4.The lickers* licked hard and they licked very well,
They d'aint missed a hair on them dogs - you can tell,
A tot or two more and instead of a dog
They'd have licked all the spikes on a spavined hedgehog.
*The lickers were special officials who checked the dogs for concealed spikes, poison, etc.
5.Old Reuben made referee of the match,
The Pride and the Queen was brought up to scratch,
The bell for the start the timekeeper smote,
And both of them dogs went for each others throat.
6.The Queen missed the Pride and Ben Bates shed a tear,
The Pride missed the Queen with a snap you could hear.
Five minutes went by without sign of a bite,
It was more like a dance than a fighting dog fight.
7.Ruff cursed for a coward the Pride of 'Em All,
The Pride seemed too drunk to be bothered at all.
And as for the Queen, Ben Bates hung his head,
And cried to the crowd to say prayers for the dead.
8.Then into the pit jumped Ruff Mo with a roar,
He fell on his face and lay flat on the floor,
And then he found out why them dogs wouldn't bite,
Sewer gas in the pit they was too drugged to fight.
9.Ruff Mo had a lungful and d'aint feel to well,
He bit at them dogs - they bit back, you can tell,
The Queen had a bite that took half of his ear,
The Pride had a mouthful of ham off his rear.
10.No matter how Ruff urged them dogs on to fight,
They both was too drugged and too b-----d to bite.
He kicked at the Queen which collapsed on the floor,
She kicked at Ruff where his backside was sore.
11.Them dogs at each other could not point a paw,
And Reuben declared that the match was a draw.
The bookmaker blarted - he had to pay back,
The money he thought was his own in the sack.
12.That fight was the last by Ben Bates and his Queen,
Broken hearted they died in the pub by the Green,
Ruff Moey has never been able to shit,
The same as afore he got bit in the pit.
And here's the tune:G2|"C"cc3c2|e2e2e2|"G7"d2c3d|"C"c4e2|ee3e2|g2g2g2|"G7"f2e2f2|e4g2|"F"a2f2a2|c'4a2|"C"g2e2g2|"Em"'b6-|'b4e2|"C"ce3g2|g3ec2|"G7"d2e2d2|"C"c2g2e2|c 6-|c6|"F"f6-|f6|"C"g6-|g6|"G7"d2e2d2|c4e2|"F"f2a2f2|"C"e4e2|"G7"dc3d2|"C"c4