Lyr. Add: Daddy Come Home, or the Donkey Death

Daddy, dear daddy, come home with me now,
The clock on the stairs has struck one.
The tom-cat has got kittens and gone up the flue,
And a row in the house has began,
Our fire has gone out, but the balliffs come in,
And they look just like having a spree,
The poor patient donkey is sick in his stall,
And won't take his physic for me.

Come home. come home, come home,
Dear daddy, please daddy, come home.

Daddy, dear daddy, come home with me now,
The clock on the stairs has struck two.
The row is all over but the donkey is worse,
I think he's been crying for you,
The horse doctor has seen him, and says he will die,
And guesses his weight at ten stone,
And this is the message he sent me to say,
He will buy the jackass when gone.

Daddy, dear daddy, come home with me now,
The clock on the stairs has struck three,
The house is ransack'd and left empty quite,
There's nothing but the donkey and me,
The cat's on the tiles, the donkey is dead,
His spirit has taken its flight,
But all is not lost, the horse doctor says,
He'll be chopped into sausage tonight.

J. Brueton Birmingham, Harding B15(81). Also Firth b.28(13).
Mid-Late 19th C. Bodleian Collection.

One of probably many parodys of the Henry Clay Work song (in DT).

Also temperance parodies.