The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #174459 Message #4230391
Posted By: Pappy Fiddle
20-Oct-25 - 11:37 PM
Thread Name: Victorian doctor song
Subject: RE: Victorian doctor song
Having a surprising store of computer skills for an old geezer (I wrote my first computer program in 1968), I used https://www.imagetotext.info/, with some manual editing, to get the lyrics. I think the first 5 lines serve as a chorus, and the last word in line 8 is probly "scold". I can read dots-on-staff, but it makes me feel like I'm eight again, taking piano lessons when what I really wanted to do was be outside playing, so I'll leave it to others to figure out the tune.
WHEN A MAN'S A LITTLE BIT POORLY T. Hedson or Hudson
When a Man's a little bit poorly He makes a fuss Wants a nurse Thinks he's going to die most surely Sends for a Doctor who makes him worse. I caught only a bit of a cold My wife did make me gruel to take Coddled me up between kindness and s?old And with her own hands my pillow did shake
2. I three days with fever was furnac'd Balmy sleep To me'd not creep Obliged to send for the Doctor in earnest Hopes of recovery faintly peep He with long and serious face Pronununed me Ill Sent ___ Bolus ___ Pill Draught ___ Powder ___ and all the race of Drugs compounded to make a long Bill
3. Leach'd ___ Chipp'd ___ Bled ___ and Blister Slips and Slops Eating stops So low each Pill was a twister I swallow'd about three Doctor's Shops Countenance turn'd a cadaverous tint A bitter pill Grew weaker still Thro' the Nurse had a bit of a hint Shoud'nt die sooner for making my Will.
4. Worse and worse was my condition My body sore Life a bore The Doctor call'd in a Physician When a Man's &c. Who Physick'd and Bolus'd me ten times more Relations round with sighs and tears Each Nephew ___ Niece Disturb my peace Even my Wife chang'd hopes for fears Fervently wish'd me a happy release.
5. Then Physician's Consultation They view my face Hopeless case Pronounced with much deliberation That I alas ___ had run my race Skeleton like my bones peep thro' My eyes I fix I hear Death ticks To Wife and Friends I bade an adieu Expecting with Charon to cross the Styx.
6 Wishing to leave the world in quiet Of Drugs and such I'd had too much So I took a Meal of my usual diet Got better and 'scap'd from Death's cold clutch Physic since to the Dogs I throw Happy and gay I pass each day And when I'm summon'd where all must go I'm resolved to die in the natural way.