SON OF A GAMBOLIER
(L. M. 1870; Charles Edward Ives 1925?)

1. I'm a rambling wretch of poverty
From Tippery town I came,
'Twas poverty compelled me first
To go out in the rain;
In all sorts of weather be it wet or be it dry,
I am bound to get my livelihood,
Or lay me down and die.

CHORUS: Then combine your humble ditties,
As from tavern to tavern we steer.
Like ev'ry honest fellow,
I drink my lager bier,
Like ev'ry jolly fellow,
I takes my whiskey clear,
I'm a rambling wretch of poverty
and the son of a gambolier.
I'm the son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a gambolier.

2. I once was tall and handsome,
And was so very neat.
They thought I was too good to live,
Most good enough to eat;
But now I'm old my coat is torn and poverty holds me fast,
And ev'ry girl turns up her nose,
As I go wand'ring past.

3. I'm a rambling wretch of poverty,
From Tippery town I came,
My coat I bought from an old Jew shop,
Way down in Maiden Lane;
My hat I got from a sailor lad just eighteen years ago,
And my shoes I pick'd from an old dust heap,
Which ev'ry one shunned but me.

Sheet music at American Memory, printed 1870 by James Garland, New Brunswick, New Jersey. This could be a parody of an older song.

The words of the third verse suggest an English origin, but I have not found a copy. Joe, sorry, it could be. The classical composer Charles Edward Ives revised it for a group of songs (Five Street Songs).

The earliest printing of "The Ramblin' Wreck" was in a Georgia Tech school program of 1910, but there is some evidence that it was written as early as 1890, some 20 years after the sheet music copied above. A student is said to have adapted "an old drinking song," and it was first sung to urge on the baseball team.