Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly

Subject: ADD (part): Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,mco5
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 02:52 AM

I wonder if anyone can provide the words for this song, which I learned as a child in England in the 1950's (from the BBC schools programme "Singing Together")?
This is all I can remember of the words:

My grandsire beat the drum complete
His name was Darby Kelly O
No man so true at rat-tat-too
At roll-call or reveillez O

When Marlborough's name first rose to fame
So loud he rolled the points of war
At Blenheim he and Ramillies
Fired all their cannons to the core

With row-dow-dow
With what a shout the boys came out
The girls they waved, you don't know how!

And now (small shame) I bear the name
And drum of Darby Kelly O
No man so true at rat-tat-too
At roll-call or reveillez O

I've not been able to find any reference to it.

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,mco5
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 05:28 AM

Found it, through a link from the Mudcat website - it's in the Bodleian Library's collection of broadside ballads. The words in these versions were clearly written during the Napoleonic wars, but no tune is given and I wonder whether the tune may be older. The words I learnt had definitely been cleaned up for schoolchildren.

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: Brakn
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 08:09 AM

Is this where the cockney term Darby (for Belly) comes from? Anyone know?

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: English Jon
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 08:48 AM

Yes it is. If there's nothing in your Darby, it's time for your Lilly and Skinner. Although nowadays we'd probably say: "I'm Hank Marvin".

Aligator Horses recorded this song on "Sporting and Military": If you can't get it in the shops (it is a bit difficult to find) write to:

WOLGRUB: (the record label) Unit 1 30, Maple house, Idonia Street Deptford, LONDON

Cheers, Jon

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: MartinRyan
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 08:51 AM

HERE's a link to one of the copies at the Bodleian.

Regards

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: Brakn
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 01:38 PM

Thanks for that Jon.

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: Brakn
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 01:38 PM

Thanks for that Jon.

Subject: RE: Darby Kelly
From: Bert
Date: 29 Jan 01 - 01:46 PM

Yup, 'Derby Kelly' is Rhyming slang for Belly, as in the song 'Boiled Beef and Carrots'...That's the stuff for your Derby Kell, keeps you fat and keeps you well....

I'd always wondered who Derby Kelly was. Now we know.

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Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: DARBY KELLY (from Bodleian)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 08:51 AM

DARBY KELLY

My grandsire beat a drum so neat
His name was Darby Kelly-o
No lad so true at rat tat too
At roll call or reveille-o
When Marlboro's name first raised his fame
My granny beat the point of war
At Blenheim he, at Ramillie
Made ears to tingle near and far
For with his wrist he'd such a twist
The girls would leer you don't know how
They laughed and cried and sighed and died
To hear him beat his row dow dow

A son he had which was my dad
As tight a lad as any oh!
You e'er would know though you should go
From Chester to Kilkenny oh!
When great Wolf died, his country's pride
To arms my dapper father beat
Each dale and hill remembers still
How loud, how long, how strong, how neat
With each drumstick, he had the trick
The girls would leer, you don't know how
Their eyes would glisten, their ears would listen
To hear him beat his row dow dow

Yet e'er I wed, ne'er it be said
But that the foe I dare to meet
With Wellington, old Erin's son
To help to make them beat retreat
King Arthur once, or I'm a dunce
Was called the hero of the age
But what was him to he we see
The Arthur of the modern page
For by the powers, from Lisbon's towers
Their trophies bore to grace his brow
He made Nap prance right out of France
With his English, Irish, row dow dow


I'm aware there's other 'sanitized' versions of this but I believe this one to be the original, sung in Napoleonic times.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Darby Kelly
From: Mr Happy
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 08:52 AM

Drat! Forgot to put source, here it is:


http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/ballads/image.pl?ref=Harding+B+16(67a)&id=06836.gif&seq=1&size=0

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Darby Kelly
From: Banjo-Flower
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 10:56 AM

I believe this is the tune "Status Quo"recorded under the title "Burning Bridges"

Gerry

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 02:17 PM

In this thread, Nigel Parsons says the song can be found in The National Song Book, volume 1. I wonder if Nigel or some other good preson might be able to send me a scan or a MIDI of the tune, and post the lyrics from the songbook.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

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Here are a couple of other songs that mention Darby Kelly:
Digging for Gould

Darby Kelly below in Kilkenny did live...

Boiled Beef and carrots:

"Boiled beef and carrots, boiled beef and carrots.
That's the stuff for your 'Darby Kell', makes you fat, and it keeps you well.
Don't live like vegetarians, on food they give to parrots,
From morn till night, blow out your 'kite' on boiled beef and carrots! "

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: Snuffy
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 06:52 PM

"makes you fat, and it keeps you well."

I always though it kept you "fit", not "fat"

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,Mr Happy
Date: 17 Mar 05 - 09:54 PM

Mr Happy & Fiends, in their various guises perform this great song regularly.

To give a metal pic how it sounds:

It's our Barby does the main voice+guitar, Belfast Jim does banjo acc. + 'snare drum effect with drumming nails on banjo skin+ Mr H on whistle.

Tempo's a quick march!

Sounds great!

Subject: ADD: Darby Kelly
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 02:06 AM

Masato sent me a scan, so I did a transcription and a MIDI. Mr. Happy, how does my tune compare with yours?
Thanks, Masato!
-Joe Offer-


Darby Kelly

My grandsire beat a drum complete
His name was Darby Kelly-O!
No lad so true at rat tat too
At roll-call or reveillez-O!
When Marlbro's name first rose to fame,
So proud he rolled the Point of War.....
At Blenheim he and Ramillies
Fired all our champions to the core,
And O, his wrist had such a twist,
When home they marched with row dow dow....
With one great shout the boys came out,
The girls they gazed, you don't know how.

A son he had, who was my dad,
The second Darby Kelly O!
As quick and true at rat-tat-too,
At roll-call or reveillez-O!
When great Wolfe died, his country's pride,
To arms, to arms the father beat,
Each dale and hill remembers still
How loud and long, how clear and sweet!
And when for home from off the foam
He led the march with row-dow-dow,
Och! what a shout the lads let out,
The lasses looked, you don't know how!

And now, small blame, I bear the name
And drum of Darby Kelly O!
Myself as true to rat-tat-too,
To roll-call or reveillez O!
With Wellington, old Ireland's son,
I've beat the Mounseers out of Spain,
And now we march through laurel arch
And waving banners home again;
And as my sticks the same old tricks
They play with patt'ring row-dow-dow,
Man, woman, child, they've all gone wild,
The girls they gaze, you don't know how!


from The National Song Book

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Click to play

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No listing for this song at folktrax.org or in the Traditional Ballad Index.

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,Rob
Date: 27 Sep 05 - 08:25 AM

I'm still confused. I was trying to find why we say 'Look at the Derby on him' meaning 'Look at the Belly on him'. Well, now I know it is because it means Derby Kelly - rhyming slang for Belly. But why Derby Kelly??
Because, you say, Boiled Beef and Carrotts states 'Put it in your Derby Kell', yes?
But then surely Derby Kell - Derby Kelly - Belly, must already have been around before the song. i.e. the writer put Derby Kell in the song becuase it meant Belly and he didn't just say 'put it in your Derby Kell' and think that'll mean Belly.

So who,or why, did we come up with the Derby Kelly as Belly to go into the song??

Do I make sense?

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Oct 05 - 11:35 AM

joe,

the given tune is almost exactly the same as ours, except for the pause between lines 5 & 6 of the verse, where we infil with some extra notes.

I'll try get Barby to send abc or dots for it.

Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,BW
Date: 15 Apr 07 - 07:22 AM

Did you ever get an answer to your Darby Kelly question? I take the point that the derivation (to a certain point back in time) stems from the lyric in the "Boiled Beef & Carrots" song and further that there is reference to one "Darby Kelly" in the Napoleonic ballad of the same name (in which the eponymous Kelly appears to have been an Irish drummer fighting in the Napoleonic Wars) but that begs the questions: (1) Who was Darby Kelly? (2) Was he a real person or merely a character in a song? and (3) Did he have a prominent Darby himself?!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,Dave in Treherbert
Date: 04 Mar 12 - 02:48 PM

Rob, I think this song may be the older one by far. To the best of my knowledge Cockney Rhyming slang is only about 150 years old, which would put "Boiled beef and carrots" rather later than the Napoleonic Wars.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 13 - 05:13 PM

Many thanks to everyone who has commented on this song. I knew it as Darby Kelly O when Status Quo revived it and it inspired me to include it in the instrumental middle section of Green Wood's 'Hard Times Of Old England'. I was brought up on Singing Together and assume that's where I must have retrieved it from in the dark corners of memory. As with many other comments research on this song is sparce but I go along with the Napoleonic Wars theory based on the songs reference although Ireland's Sun / Son in different versions is interesting as in the refrence to Ramillies. Was that a person or a battle ? Of course if one takes out the battle and person references there is the angle that the song is about 'Father like son' as all the Darby kelly's seem to have beat the drum in battle.I have now recorded the song as there seems very few versions around compared with the average folk song which usually has a lot to choose from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z4zhcCSO0s

Subject: Lyr Add: DARBY KELLY (T Dibdin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Apr 13 - 12:06 AM

These lyrics are nearly the same as those posted by Mr Happy above, but it illustrates how the chorus was sung.

From The Pocket Melodist; or, Dramatic Muse, 3rd collection (London: J. Duncombe, 1816), page 65:


DARBY KELLY,

A favorite Irish song, written by T. Dibdin, Esq., composed by Mr. Whitaker, and sung by Mr. Webb, at the Theatres Royal, also by Mr. R. L. Jones and Mr. Bryant, at the Select Subscription Readings and Music, Athenaeum Rooms, Bow Street.

My Grandsire beat a drum so neat,
    His name was Darby Kelly, O,
No lad so true at rat-tat-too,
    At roll-call or reveille, O.
When Marlbro's name—first rais'd his fame,
    My Grandy beat the point of war;
At Blenheim he—at Ramillie,
    Made ears to tingle far and near.
For with his wrist, he'd such a twist,
    The girls would leer, you don't know how;
They laugh'd and cried, and sigh'd and died,
    To hear him beat the row-dow-dow,
            With a row-dow-dow,
    To hear him beat his row-dow-dow.
They laugh'd and cried, and sigh'd and died,
    To hear him beat the row-dow-dow.

A son he had, which was my dad,
    As tight a lad as any, O,
You e'er wou'd know, tho' you shou'd go
    From Chester to Kilkenny, O.
When great Wolf died, his country's pride,
    To arms my dapper father beat;
Each dale and hill remembers still,
    How loud, how long, how strong, how neat,
With each drum stick, he had the trick,
    The girls wou'd leer, you don't know how;
Their eyes wou'd glisten, their ears wou'd listen
    To hear him beat the row-dow-dow,
            With a row-dow-dow,
    To hear him beat the row-dow-dow.
Their eyes would glisten, their ears would listen
    To hear him beat the row-dow-dow.

Yet e'er I wed, ne'er be it said,
    But what the foe I dare to meet;
With Wellington, old Erin's son,
    To help to make them beat retreat.
King Arthur once, or I'm a dunce,
    Was call'd the hero of his age,
But what was he, to him we see,
    The Arthur of the modern page.
For by the powers from Lisbon's tow'rs,
    Their trophies lure, to grace his brow;
And made them prance from Spain to France,
    With his English, Irish row-dow-dow.
            With his row-dow-dow,
    With his English, Irish row-dow-dow.
And made them prance from Spain to France
    With his English, Irish row-dow-dow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Sep 16 - 10:48 AM

amazin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Dec 24 - 04:37 PM

Test

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Darby Kelly
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 16 Dec 24 - 04:48 PM

The point of rhyming slang was also to communicate secretly. Darby Kelly was a famous person real or not and it rhymed with belly. Once it was in use you could just say Darby and people knew what you meant. Google Harry Monk for some more fun. Darby Kelly was also used in another Harry Champion song soupity, soupity, soup. John Foreman always said that the songs were often about food because people didn’t have enough of it then. the real Darby Kelly was a drummer and the tune is based on a typical bugle call, simple but effective. Somerset fiddler William Winter had it in his manuscript book.