GRANNY SNOW
   Written by Harry Clifton, 1862
   Composed by Charles Davenport
   Arranged by Michael Hobson

1
Some discontented people always will complain
One day they've too much sunshine, another too much rain.
I take the world as it comes its pleasures and its woe
And all my neighbours call me happy Granny Snow...
        Chorus:
   I always speak my mind in spite of friend or foe,
   Where'er I roam I'm always known as happy granny Snow.
   I always speak my mind in spite of friend or foe,
   Where'er I roam I'm always known as happy Granny Snow.
2
Perhaps in my opinions many think me wrong
But I like to speak my mind on things as they pass along;
For I've no boys to teaze, No girls to add to my woe,
I roam where'er I please, I'm happy Granny Snow.
3
Do you read the daily news? is it true what they relate?
If so England should be proud of each County Magistrate,
Who think it a crime to be poor, to prison all must go,
If they beg for bread they get stone walls instead;
Is that right says Granny Snow.
4
The girl who begs for scraps, the boy who kills a hare,
The man who sleeps beneath the hedge, the child who finds a snare,
Will it cause a reformation if they to prison go?
Give them food and education says happy Granny Snow.
5
Across the broad Atlantic, the cry is war to the knife,
Sure some kind hand should interfere to stay this deadly strife.
In Lancashire they suffer much from hunger, want, and woe,
Ought our countrymen to starve for them, says happy granny Snow.
6
There is glorious Garibaldi for his country fought and bled,
He struggled hard for liberty, but a prison found instead;
To be just as well as generous, let him to England come, [go, in broadsides]
Where he'll meet ten thousand welcomes, says happy Granny Snow.
7
About the Prince of Wales much has been said and done,
And in another day or two he will be twenty-one;
And he to spend his birthday, to Germany must go,
Isn't England good enough for him, says happy Granny Snow.

Source: Sheet music published by Hopwood and Crew, Clifton's main publisher.
Lyrics transcribed by Steve Gardham.


AC: I revised some punctuation and capitalization from that printed in the music. Missing bits restored from broadsides.

Broadside variant for verse 7:

About the Prince of Wales much has been said and done,
And now that he is married, may he shortly have a son,
For his blooming Alexandria will show him the road to go,
And be a credit to his country, says happy Granny Snow.

Source: Bodleian Library ballad collection, Harding B 15(118b), published by H. Disley, St. Giles; dated between 1860 and 1883. Also in the Disley broadside Steve cites below.

Dating this song is fairly easy due to the references in the two versions of the final verse. Albert Edward (later Edward VII) was born in November 1841, so he would have become 21 in 1862; the song must have been written shortly before in the same year. He married Alexandra of Denmark on 10 March 1863. Their first son, Albert Victor was born 8 January 1864. Given that Alexandra's pregnancy would have been big news, we can place the broadside publication in the second quarter of 1863.


Notes by Steve Gardham:

Inside
GRANNY SNOW
Written by H. CLIFTON                   Arranged by M. HOBSON
the Melody is Published by permission of Mr. B. Williams.
Serial H & C 407
From internal evidence in the song and the serial number the date is estimated at 1862.

Cover
Written and sung by HC. also sung by Kate Harley
Composed by Charles Davenport
Arranged M. Hobson
Litho portrait of Kate Harley by Concanen and Lee
Broadside by Disley of London (Bodleian broadside Ballads website, Harding B11(1396)
Sheet music at OLIS, Bodleian, Harding R1582 and Mus. 5c.c.27(92)

The song is somehow related to his (Merry Old) Uncle Joe.
They certainly have the same first line and first line of chorus. Probably same tune. I would guess that Clifton wrote Granny Snow for Kate Harley. When it took off he decided to rewrite it so he could sing it. His first appearance in drag would seem to be 1865, 'The Young Man on the Railway'. Using the same tune and chorus, something like 'My Old Wife' became rewritten as 'My Rattling mare and I' only moreso. 'Uncle Joe' serial number is H & C 416. The 'Uncle Joe' sheet music is also in OLIS at Mus.Voc.III 13(14).