Lyr Req: burglar boy? / Old Maid & Burglar

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burglar boy? / Old Maid & Burglar
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 Apr 18 - 01:09 PM

My grandad's version is formed by a verse in a parody on the song 'My Own Bluebell' of 1904. In the 3 verses 'Bluebell' is in turn a singer in the Music Hall, a girl, and a racehorse. Here's the middle verse

One night I went out burgling, I entered a house at dark
And when I got to Bluebell's room I fairly got a start,
For she had a loaded pistol, she placed it against my head,
She said "Marry me or I'll fire," so I looked at her face and said,
"Goodbye old Bluebell. Farewell, adieu,
I've seen better faces on the monkeys in the zoo.
When I first saw you, i thought you was a beaut,
But if that's your face, it's a damn disgrace
And for the lord's sake shoot!

A recording made in the 60s is on the British library Sound Archive website under my name and my grandfather, Jack Sykes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burglar boy? / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Apr 18 - 06:07 PM

I am now 74 years old and remember my Daddy singing this song. He would be 101 years old if he were alive. Thank you for posting this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burglar boy? / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GUEST,sandy greenwood
Date: 16 Sep 11 - 10:02 PM

Thank you so much for posting this fun old rhyme. My grandmother use to tell me this rhyme when I was a child. She died at 93 and I miss those fun times together.I could remember most of the rhyme but thanks to you I now have a written copy for my grandchildren.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: breezy
Date: 27 Sep 04 - 02:57 PM

and Malcom Price used it a lot in his sets

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GEST
Date: 26 Sep 04 - 09:55 PM

The Burglar was also sung by Eddy Primroy (1928-1999) of Pouch Cove, NFLD, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada ©2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GUEST,Jim I
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 04:20 PM

Ok. It's www.honkingduck.com.   The track is called "The Burglar and the Old Maid" and it's by "Fiddlin' John Carson"

Jim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GUEST,Jim I
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 03:39 PM

Try the Honking Duck site. I haven't got the URL handy but a search under honking duck should find it. Within that collection of 78's of Old Time US music is a 1920s -30's recording of the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: Steve Benbows protege
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 02:45 PM

yes it is on Steve's c.d. Thank you for raising that on this thread.
Not shure about the lyrics I will check it out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 06:32 AM

It is on that Steve Benbow c.d that was advertised here by his "Protege" (click). A good version, different lyrics.(I think.)

Subject: ADD: Burglar Man
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 03 - 05:36 PM

THE BURGLAR MAN

I will tell you a story 'bout a burglar man
Who started to rob a house
He creeps right in at the window
Just as quietly as a mouse.

He was thinkin' of some money that he would get
As under the bed he lay
He certainly saw a sight that night
That made his hair turn grey

About nine o'clock an old maid came in.
"Oh, I'm so tired," she said.
And thinkin' that all was very well,
She forgot to look under the bed.

So she took out her teeth and her big glass eye
And her hair right off her head;
This burglar man, he had forty-eleven fits
As he came from out under the bed.

From under the bed this burglar came
He was a total wreck;
The old maid, she didn't holler at all,
She just grabbed him 'round the neck

And from a drawer a gun she drew,
And to this burglar man said,
"Young man, if you don't marry me,
I'll blow off the top of your head."

So he looks at her teeth and her big glass eye
And he has no place to scoot.
He said to the old maid standing by,
"Woman, for the Lord's sake, shoot!"

As sung by Bob Carpenter
Alan Lomax Collection: "Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 Mar 03 - 05:25 PM

Known as A Burglar Bold, The Burglar and the Old Maid, The Burglar Man and so on. Number 658 in the Roud Folk Song Index, where around 18 examples, all American, are currently listed.

There are four sets at The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection:

Burglar Man As sung by Mrs. Norma Kisner, Springdale, Arkansas on November 25, 1960.
Burglar Man As sung by Doris Venie, Springfield, Missouri on May 24, 1961.
The Old Maid Song As sung by Floyd McGinnis, Pea Ridge, Arkansas on May 20, 1969.
The Old Maid As sung by Beverly Kirkpatric, (Tutchecker), Fort Smith, Arkansas on July 11, 1969.

See also these previous discussions:

old maid and the burglar
Lyrics to the Old Maid and the Burglar
"Folksongs and Minstrelsy"


The basic idea is a very old one, and a whole series of songs have been based on it. You can see several broadside editions, the earliest-dated being between 1663 and 1674, at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

News from Hide-park, or, A very merry passage which hapned betwixt a North country gentleman, and a very gaudy gallant lady of pleasure

Two later forms of the story are in the DT:

VERY UNFORTUNATE MAN (from Jimmy Driftwood)
A DANDY FOR NINETEEN YEARS OLD

The latter is derived from a popular English stage song of the 19th century. Broadside copies at the Bodleian Collection:

The virgin, only nineteen years old

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burglar boy / Old Maid & Burglar
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 03 - 04:40 PM

Hmmm. there is an entry in the Traditional Ballad Index, but not a whole lot of information. Seems like one of the primary sources is the Digital Tradition.
-Joe Offer-

---

Old Maid and the Burglar, The [Laws H23]

DESCRIPTION: The old maid prepares for bed by removing her teeth, wig, and glass eye. She then discovers the burglar hiding under her bed. She threatens to shoot him if he will not marry her. He answers, "Woman, for the Lord's sake, shoot!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: oldmaid robbery humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Laws H23, "The Old Maid and the Burglar"
DT 780, OLMDBURG
RECORDINGS:
Ernest V. Stoneman, "The Old Maid and the Burglar" (Edison 52369, 1928)
Bob Carpenter, "The Burglar Man" (on LomaxCD1702 - Alan Lomax Collection: "Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns," Rounder CD 1702 (1997). CD)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Warranty Deed" (theme)
File: LH23

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: burgler boy
From: MMario
Date: 18 Mar 03 - 01:27 PM

not the version you want

Laws H23

Subject: Lyr Req: burgler boy
From: GUEST,oldtimemusic1
Date: 18 Mar 03 - 01:22 PM

HELP!!! Anyone know the lyrics to "Burgler Boy"??

It starts out, "I'll tell you about a burgler boy who started to rob
a house. He went right through the window, he crept in quite as a
mouse". It turns out it was an old maid's house....

They just don't write songs like this any more.... Thanks, Tom

---

A Dandy for Nineteen Years Old

Old Maid and the Burglar

Shade of the Old Apple Tree