Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum

Subject: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: GUEST,GregR
Date: 26 Sep 09 - 02:49 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics for a song called "Johnny Daddle Dum"? I've only heard one recording of it - from an old LP of Sean O'Neill, Live and the Plough and Stars (in San Francisco) 1976.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: Gulliver
Date: 28 Sep 09 - 06:01 PM

See this thread:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=15048

Don

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY RATTLEDUM / CRABFISH
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 05:29 AM

Here it is as I learned it about 35 years ago from an Irish singer whose name escapes me (It's an age thing, I know). He accompanied himself on the bodhran, and it added rather than detracted.

There was a little man and he had a little horse
He saddled it and bridled it and got his leg across
Cho : Johnny Rattledum, rattledum, rattledum day
Hi Johnny Rattledum day.

He rode, he rode til he came to a brook
And there he saw a fisherman fishing with a hook. Cho.

O fisherman, O fisherman who I can see
Have you got a crabfish you can sell to me. Cho.

I haven't got a crabfish as you can see
But I has a lobster I will sell to ye. Cho.

He took the lobster home but couldn't find a big enough dish
So they put it in the pot where his missis used to pish. Cho.

In the middle of the night as you might well know
The missis got up to use the Edgar Allan Poe [sic]. Cho.

She said husband, husband, as surely as you're born
The devil's in the pisspot and he's pushing up his horn. Cho.

She gave a screech and she gave a grunt
And ran round the room with the lobster up her nightie. Cho.

He grabbed a shovel and she grabbed a broom
And they hit the fing lobster all around the room. Cho.

They hit him on the head and they hit him on the side
And they hit him up the arse and the poor bugger died. Cho.

The moral of the story goes like this :
Look in the pisspot before you has a piss. Cho.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: Gulliver
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 09:30 AM

Those lyrics are very similar to the version I learned from Jem ("Bones") Kelly in Dublin about the same time, the only difference being that instead of

I haven't got a crabfish as you can see
But I has a lobster I will sell to ye. Cho.

he sang

He threw the crab over his own back bone
Hopped on his horse and he f****d off home

Jem liked to shock!

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 03:58 PM

There must be other threads on this, one of the most widespread themes in the whole world. As a song it occurs throughout the English-speaking world. I would guess only its subject matter prevents it from being a Child ballad. It certainly ticks more boxes than most of the antiquarian/broadside tosh in there.

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY DADDLUM
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 04:26 AM

From Irish Traveller 'Pop's' Johnny Connors - who also liked to shock!
Have included our note for an intended Traveller collection.
Jim Carroll

Oh there was a little man and he had a little hook
And he used to go fishing down by a little brook.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

Fishing all day and fishing all night,
And all that he caught was a little crab.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

He put the hook up he crab's backbone,
And he slung it over his shoulder and he fucked off home.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

He got home, couldn't find a dish,
So he put it in the pot where the women used to piss.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

Now about half past twelve in the middle of the night,
When the woman of the house came down to have a shite.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

Now she began to fart and she began to grunt,
And the little crab cotch her and he caught her by the cunt.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

Oh John, John, John, as sure as you are born,
Sure, the divil's in the piss-pot sticking up his horns.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

So she got a stick and he got a broom,
And they bet the little bastard all around the room.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

They bet him in the belly and they bet him in the sides,
They bet him in the bollocks till the poor whore died.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

Now if you get married, get married to a cook,
If she don't sling her mutton she can sling her fucking hook.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

The moral of this story is just this,
Every woman look before they have a piss.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

The end of my story, there isn't any more,
I've an apple up my arse hole, you can have the core.
Oh, oh, Johnny Daddlum a day.

First appearing in print in Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscripts in 1643 as "The Sea Crabb", this is claimed to be one of the oldest surviving songs in English. As old as the song is, it was reported 363 years earlier as a tale, in an account of a traveller in Russia, possibly in "The Book of Marco Polo", though it was said to be Italian rather than Russian.
The earliest text describes the wife as being pregnant, hence her desire for crab and it presents us with a scene of high farce by having the creature hanging from her nether parts, reaching out and grabbing the rescuing husbands nose, thus;

"Alas", quoth the good man, "that ever I came hither,
He has joined my wife's tayle and my nose together".

It has appeared in print on several occasions, though often heavily censored, either by he singer or by the collector.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 11:40 AM

A "mildly salacious" version appears as a tale-in-verse among the "Forty Select Poems" (1769) of Thomas Harrington, Sixth Earl of Haddington (1680-1735).

It tells the same story as Buchan's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Sep 09 - 11:43 AM

Should be "Thomas Hamilton, Sixth Earl...," of course.

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY DADDLE DUM
From: Graeck
Date: 05 Oct 09 - 05:28 PM

Thanks all. Between the few versions I saw posted here (under different names) and listening to the track over and over, I was able to get almost all the lyrics from this Sean O'Neill recording. Previously I could only understand about 50% of them. I'm only missing a couple phrases now.

Here's the (almost complete) Sean O'Neill version from the 1976 Bay Records "Live at the Plough and Stars" release:

---------------------------------------
Johnny Daddle Dum

Oh there was a little man, And he had a little lass
And he [...............], N' ridin on the grass

Chorus
Johnny Daddle Dum, Daddle Dum
Oh, Johnny Daddle Dum-a-dee

Well he rowed and he rowed, And he came to a brook
And he spied a little fisherman, A fishin' with his hook

Chorus

O, fisherman, O, fisherman, And how dee-a-dee
Have you a little cod fish, You can spare me?

Chorus

"Oh, no" cried the fisherman, The well has been dra
Been fishin' all day, And I've only caught a crab

He got a little hook, And he slipped it up his bone
Then he put o'er his shoulder, And he fucked off home

He couldn't find a hole, And he couldn't find a dish
So he stuffed it in the pot, Where maidens have the piss

In the middle of the night, the maid she got a fight
She had the [.....], [............................]

Well she sat on the bowl, and she began to grunt
The dirty little bastard, He got her by the "Johnny Daddle dum...etc"

O master, O master, As sure as you were born
The Divil's in the piss pot, stickin' up his horn

Well one grabbed a brush, And the other grabbed a broom
And they beat the little Bastard, All around the room

Well they beat him in the middle, And they beat him in the side
And they beat him in the back, Till the poor fucker died

Well the moral of the story, And the moral is this
Don't put your crabs, Where the maidens have the piss

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: GUEST,Friend
Date: 01 Jan 10 - 11:21 AM

The person singing and playing the bodhran was Liam Weldon!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Weldon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: GUEST,joe fitzpatrick
Date: 01 Feb 16 - 02:46 PM

i have a recording of this by a man called George Mullins in Darky kellys pub in fishamble st in Dublin he was a great singer of these songs and a great story teller. He was part of a group known as the Darky Kely gang Sadly he passed away a couple of years ago

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Johnny Daddle Dum
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jun 17 - 07:27 PM

When I went fishing one day by the brook I saw a fisherman playing with his hook oh go johnny rotten on the day is that the one u looking for ???