The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #15700   Message #2836724
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
11-Feb-10 - 08:49 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Big Bow Wow
Subject: RE: Origins: Big Bow Wow
This is pretty much off the subject, but since no one asked-

No, not the 'same' as the O'Keefe, but definitely 'based' on it.

Bodleian, Performer John Edwin,, no date, Harding B 21(53); Harding B-14(9), between 1790-1800.
Just a bit of it-
Bow Wow Wow
I'll sing you a song, faith I'm singing it now,
Here I don't mean to affront either small or big, bow wow,
Here's the subject I've chosen, it is the canine race,
To prove like us two legg'd dogs, they are a very fine race.

Bow, wow, wow; Fal, lal, lo, ad-di, ad-di,
*See O'Keefe chorus.

Like you and I, other dogs may be counted sad dogs,
As we won't drink water, some might think us mad dogs,
A courtier is a spaniel, a citizen's a (dull?) dog,
A soldier is a mastiff, a sailor's a bull dog.
etc.

Bodleian, Harding B 22(26)
Bow Wow Wow
Sung by Tony Johannot, nd

Come listen awhile to an old dog's new story,
Concerning a race with some pretensions to glory;
etc.
Cho-
Bow wow wow.

The lover is a wretched dog without his pretty dear, sir,
The bully is a swaggering dog I neither love nor fear, sir,
The miser is a stingy dog that saves an inch of candle,
And the coxcomb is a lap dog for pretty maids to dandle.

The cockold is a common dog, as many a wife will tell ye,
The glutton is a greedy dog, he loves you for his belly,
The soldier is a noble dog in ev'ry rank and station(?),
And the sailor is a hearty dog as any in the nation.

Bow Wow Wow
O'Keefe
(Universal Songster, vol. 2)

Chorus
Bow wow wow, fal lal de idy oddy, Bow wow wow