Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,Young Buchan
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 03:58 AM

Bseed: The Church's One Foundation tune is best known as Fred Karno's Army:
We are Fred Karno's Army, the ragtime infantry
We cannot march, we cannot fight, what bloody use are we?

(Fred Karno was a music-hall comedian.)

As regards the Dog song, I am confident that Alan Bennett used it in Forty Years On. I seem to remember that the children sang it at Speech Day while the teachers sang Foundation. But it's a long time since I saw it and I may be wrong.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 07:52 AM

Robin Morton used to recite a version of this with "Boys Of The Lough" in concert. I'd often wondered where it came from. Just looking at the words at the top of the thread, I found myself thinking of it to the tune of "The Laughing Policeman", for some reason - it works.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:07 AM

Would any of the readers of this thread - especially Australian ones of course - be kind enough to look at this thread:

thread.cfm?threadid=103440&messages=1

Thanks in advance.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:31 AM

It also goes well to the tune of "The Ball of Kirriemuir".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: Folkiedave
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 08:44 AM

First heard it sung by Bob Roberts, of the Sailing Barge Cambria - not sure which tune he used though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 20 Jul 07 - 09:36 AM

G'day folkiedave,

I've given you John Manifold's The Stranger (not "sailor") on the other thread.

I don't seem to have included this one in my anthology Singabout - Selected Reprints, Bush Music Club, 1985 ... but I only had room (and budget) for ~ 100 of my favourites!

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: Girl Friday
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 03:23 PM

Mumblin len learnt this one as a recitation while he was at school in the '60s. the lyrics went as follows:

The doggies had a meeting, they came from near and far,
Some came by motorcycle, and some by motor car.

And as each dog came in the hall, each signed a little book,
And hung his little tiddler upon a little hook.

One dog was not invited, that sorely raised his ire,
He ran into the meeting hall and loudly shouted FIRE!

The dogs were in confusion, without another look
Each grabbed for any tiddler from off of any hook.

And that is why when two dogs meet, on land, abroad or home,
Each sniffs the others tiddler, to see if its his own.


There wasn't a tune, as far as he remembers, but the guy he learnt it from had heard it from his grandfather, so it must go back a fair way!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: Rowan
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 07:58 PM

When I saw the post;
From: Chris/Darwin - PM
Date: 26 Aug 00 - 08:22 AM

"This has been an interesting thread. A couple of points - Pam and Norm Merrigan had a bush band in the 80's called "The Bush Bandicoots". It included the great and late Wagga percussionist/story teller/character Ted Simpson, and a fiddle player whose name escapes me. They won the national bush band competition in Tamworth about 1986."

I started thinking about who the fiddle player might have been. I can't be sure but the name Warwick Nottage (whom I knew from Adelaide but he lived in/near Albury in the period mentioned) was a ripper fiddler and may be the one involved.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 08:42 PM

Rowan

I sent this thread to Pam & Norm

sandra

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 10:54 PM

I remember hearing at Primary School (Bundaberg) from a teacher who spiking interest in poetry in a bunch of kids during the 1950s. Ok - if memory is faulty it would have been the very early 60s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 09:17 AM

Rowan - Jeff Brown was the fiddler in Bush Bandicoots

sandra

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 11:32 AM

Don't know what effect they had on the "tradition," but the song was recorded a few times on rugby song albums in the '70s. The tune was always, I think, "The Church's One Foundation."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,doc.tom
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 01:02 PM

Just found this fascinating thread.

Now Rap-a-tap-tap I learnt from peers who worked on the farms in Cornwall in the mid 1960s - that's the "Master went to market" version (there are several Rap-a-tap-tap songs of course, with the knocking "replacing" an imagined word).
The Dog's Meeting, on the other hand, I learnt from Mervyn Vincent around the same time - to Mervy'n own variation of The Church's One Foundation/Karno's Army. On one occasion, singing it out at a gig in Kent, we were told by an elderly member of the audience that his Grandfather used to sing it - and working the dates backwards we got to the 1890s!

Just for the record, Mervyn's text went:

Now the dog's once had a meeting, they came from near and far,
Some they came by aeroplane and some by motor car,
And when they got to the meeting house they had to sign a book
And each one hung his backside on the nearest hook.

Now they went into that meeting-house, every mother, son and sire,
No sooner had they got inside some bugger shouted "Fire!"
Out they came all in a rush - they had no time to look
And each one grabbed a backside from the nearest hook.

They got their backsides all mixed up which made them very sore,
For no-one had the same backside that they had had before,
And that's the reason why a dog will leave a bone
And go and sniff another dog's arse to see if it's his own.

I've heard it sung using 'arse' and 'arsehole' all the way through - it's much more effective to save it for the last line!

Tom

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: Rowan
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 06:01 PM

Thanks for that jog about Jeff Brown, Sandra.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: EBarnacle
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 08:51 PM

I got it from Brian Bowers at the Bottom Line in the mid-70's, when he described it as trad. Obviously it isn't. His version used "Asshole" throughout. It would be more effective to only use it at the end.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOGGIES MEETING
From: GUEST,Lyrics Collector
Date: 29 Jul 07 - 10:55 PM

I found this version of "The Doggies Meeting" on

www.monologues.co.uk

THE DOGGIES MEETING
Anonymous


The doggies held a meeting,
They came from near and far,
Some came by motor cycle,
And some by motor car
Each doggie passed the doorway,
Each doggie signed the book
Each one unshipped his asshole
And hung it on a hook.

One dog was not invited
It sorely raised his ire
He ran into the meeting hall
And loudly shouted "Fire!"
It threw them in confusion
And without a second look
Each grabbed anothers asshole
From off another hook

And that's the reason why sir,
When walking down the street
And that's the reason why sir,
When doggies chance to meet
And that's the reason why sir,
On land, abroad or home
They'll sniff each other's backside...
To see if it's their own.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,about this song
Date: 27 May 08 - 05:51 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,felixq78
Date: 31 May 09 - 08:48 AM

I first heard this piece performed at a poem in an old Australian movie named" Smiley gets a gun" Starring Chips Rafferty

In the movie is prompted by his mischevious father (To win a bet) to read the poem at a local church function.
Young Smiley introduces the poem saying it was written my Banjo Patterson, a famous and much loved Australian poet.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk song
From: GUEST,chris in medina, ohio
Date: 09 Apr 11 - 02:41 AM

I tried to send this once - I'll try again.
I performed this a capella with Charlie Weiner on his Twelve inches of Weiner album back in the mid-70's in the Cleveland area. The tune was the church's one foundation.

The lyrics went like this:
The doggies had a party. They came from near and far.
And some dogs came by taxi and some dogs came by car.
And each dog wrote his name all in a little book.
And each dog hung his a__hole upon a separate hook.

One dog was not invited and that aroused his ire.
He ran into the party and loudly shouted, "Fire!"
And each dog ran outside and didn't stop to look
But grabbed a separate a__hole from off a separate hook.

This is a very sad story for it is very sore
To wear another's a__hole you've never worn before.
And that is why the doggies on land and sea and foam
Will smell each others a__hole in hopes it is their own.

I've performed it since and folks always seem to enjoy it. If you have a version you'd like to share, e-mail me at [e-mail] - Thanks, Chris

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DOGS' PARTY
From: GUEST,stalterian
Date: 06 Jul 12 - 11:23 PM

As sung by Bob Gibson and 2 others at Charlotte's Web (a coffeehouse in Rockford, Illinois in about 1973). Beautiful 3-part harmony to The Church's One Foundation.

Some dogs had a party; they came from near and far.
And some dogs came by taxi, and some dogs came by car.
And each signed his name all in a little book.
And each dog hung his ___hole upon a separate hook.

One dog was not invited, and this aroused his ire.
He stormed into the party and loudly shouted, "Fire!"
The dogs got so excited; they didn't stop to look,
But grabbed the nearest ___hole from off the nearest hook.

Now this is a very sad story, for it is awfully sore
To wear another's ___hole you've never worn before.
And this is why, when dogs meet, no matter where they roam,
They sniff each other's ___hole, in hopes it is their own.

It's an acapella hit amongst our friends to this day. Sometimes 4-part harmony. Beautiful.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dogs' Meeting: great Australian folk
From: GUEST,granny nanny
Date: 18 Jul 12 - 03:59 PM

The version I know is sung to the tune of the hymn, "The Church's one foundation." It sounds wondeerfully dainty.