"The Ballad of Seth Davy" by Glyn Hughes (ca.1959) of Liverpool, England [1932-1972].

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gerry.jones/lpllyrics1.html#sethdavy

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Pictures of Scotland (Scotty) Road, Liverpool - mentioned in some versions of the song - have just come to light:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29518319

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It is otherwise known as "Whiskey on a Sunday." [http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/04/whiskey.htm] Seth Davy is mentioned by Ray Costello in Black Liverpool: The Early History of Britain's Oldest Black Community 1730-1918 [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Liverpool-Britains-Community-1730-1918/dp/1873245076] as "another black street entertainer...a West African often seen in the Scotland Road area of the city accompanying his cheerful songs with a dancing puppet show."

Glyn Hughes recorded the song for one Fritz Spiegl about 1959, and amazingly, some years later, Fritz Spiegl discovered some old lantern slides of Liverpool scenes one of which featured a group of children watching a black man in a bowler hat making some wooden dolls dance on a plank. The scene can definitely be identified as being near outside the Bevington House Hotel in Liverpool.

All this information comes from the late Fritz Spiegl's Liverpool Street Songs and Broadside Ballads published by the Scouse Press. [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liverpool-Packet-Street-Ballads-Broadsides/dp/0901367117]

There are some threads about 'Seth Davy' on Mudcat: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4, and here FSC Notes

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=58094
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8911
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=91115
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=14342

http://homepage.mac.com/bothways/Sites/fsc/whiskynotes.htm

1. He sat on the corner of Bevington Bush[1],
Astride an old packing case,
And the dolls on the end of the plank went dancing,
As he crooned with a smile on his face.
CHORUS: "Come day, go day. Wish in me heart it was Sunday.
Drinking buttermilk[2] all the week; whisky on a Sunday."

2. His tired old hands drummed the wooden beam,
And the puppet dolls they danced t'gear[3].
A far better show then you ever would see,
At the Pivvy[4] or New Brighton Pier.
CHORUS: Come day go day........

3. But in nineteen-o-two old Seth Davy died,
And his song it was heard no more.
The three dancing dolls in a jowler bin[5] ended,
And the plank went to mend a back-door.
CHORUS:"Come day, go day........

4. But on some stormy nights, down Scotty Road[6] way,
When the wind blows up from the sea,
You can still hear the song of old Seth Davy,
As he croons to his dancing dolls three.
CHORUS: "Come day, go day........

[1] Bevington Bush = an area of Liverpool, a formerly thickly wooded area between Bevington Hill and Everton Hill which at one time had a pub called "The Bush" outside which Seth Davy busked.
[2] buttermilk = the tart liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream.
[3] t'gear = the gear, a Liverpudlian expression for fashionable clothing; Seth Davy's dolls were fully clothed
[4] the Pivvy = the Pavilion Theatre on Lodge Lane in Liverpool [thanks to Gwil Jones, Liverpool for this] (See: The Pivvy [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Liverpool/PavilionTheatreLiverpool.htm)
[5] jowler bin = simply a refuse bin, normally located in the alley at the back of the house.
[6] Scotty Road way = refers to Scotland Road in Liverpool.

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CJB