Lyr Req: Thieves' Song /Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark

Subject: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,Two of a Hind
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 08:48 AM

Does anybody know where I can get the words to this one, as recorded by Crucible

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,badgerbiker
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 09:40 AM

Hi Terry - if you had been at the Gower festival last weekend you would have heard a pretty good visiting duo singing this very song at the big sing. See what you missed!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 09:42 AM

Here's a possible beginning:

Hark, hark the dogs do bark.
The beggars are coming to town.
Some in rags and some in tags
and some in velvet gowns.

Could be a reference to General Motors and AIG. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh what?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,Two of a Hind
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 11:26 AM

Leeneia. That's the begger now where's the rest of it. Badger? obviously you know me but I don't know you by that name, Gower, I understand they don't do singarounds or folk cluby type things, don't need us to organise anything so we have no reason to be there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 12:32 PM

Or maybe this version:

Hark! hark! the dogs do bark!
There's somebody down in the hall.
He trips on a chair—-
Gosh! hear him swear!
As a couple of vases fall.

Bang! smash! another crash!
Now he is singing "Dear Heart."
Oh, then, it is clear,
That father, dear,
Has slipped off the water cart

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 12:48 PM

From Westminster Drollery 1672 (Part II), "Dialogue between a Man (in garrison) and his Wife (with her company) Storming Without":

Hark, hark, the dogs do bark,
My wife is coming in,
With Rogues and Jades
And Roaring Blades
They make a devilish din.

Subject: ADD: Thieves' Song (recorded by Crucible)
From: Bounty Hound
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 01:16 PM

Hows This:

THE THIEVES' SONG
(Gavin Davenport)

Em                         D                           Em             D
Some they say the travelling man, he is the city's blight
Em             D          C   D          Em            D          Em         
That he will rob the city man in some blind lane by night
Em                            D                      Em                D
But I tell you that the chap in rags or lord in golden chains
Em          D            C                                  Em       D          Em         
It matters not how much they have, they'll rob you just the same


Chorus
Em   D             Em       D             Em    D                   Em      
Hark Hark the dogs do bark and all the rogues have come to town
Em         D      C          D            Em         D       Em
Some in jags, some in rags and some in velvet gowns
Em                      D                         Em                      D
So put no faith in rich men, though gold they have in store
Em                D             C                     Em      D             Em
For now they have the taste of it, they want it ten times more



And yet you scorn the beggar man that calls out for each crust
And on the pin striped wolfs head you invest your faith and trust
And put the biggest rogues of all, your parliament within
So don't despise the poor man though his clothes be awful thin



So don't see the beggar as a thief, but see him as a man
Likewise the lords but look beneath and trust just where you can
For you meet with thieves and you eat with thieves and you deal with thieves each day
And you dote on thieves and you vote for thieves and still their games do play

Enjoy

John

---

http://www.wildgoose.co.uk/displayAlbum.asp?PRODUCT_ID=102

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: Darowyn
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 01:20 PM

From James Thurber's "The Thirteen Clocks":-
" A third of the dogs in the town began to bark. The minstrel sang,
'Hark Hark the dogs do bark,
But only one in three.
They bark at those in velvet gowns.
They never bark at me'"
And later:-
"Hark Hark the dogs do bark
The Duke in fond of kittens
He likes to take their insides out
And use their fur for mittens"
The minstrel is then arrested for mentioning mittens- a capital offence in the vicinity of Coffin Castle.
It's a wonderful book!
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Jun 10 - 01:24 PM

As a final digression, there is a long poem by Thomas Hood, "Dog-grel Verses, by a Poor Blind" which lists a series of "dogs" he has had the misfortune to own or be led around by. It is introduced by "Hark, hark, the dogs do bark, / The beggars are coming..."--(Old Ballad). As you can see (below), it is set to the same meter.

Oh what shall I do for a dog ?
Of sight I have not got a particle,
Globe, Standard, or Sun,
Times, Chronicle—-none
Can give me a good leading article.

A Mastiff once led me about,
But people appear'd so to fear him—-
I might have got pence
Without his defence,
But Charity would not come near him.

...

My next was a Westminster Dog,
From Aistrop the regular cadger ;
But, sightless, I saw
He never would draw
A blind man so well as a badger.

...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,Two of a Hind
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 05:14 AM

Dear Bounty Hound, thats the one, thank you very much and thanks to the rest of you for your contributions.
Terry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,Two of a hind
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 05:17 AM

I forgot to ask, who wrote it, anybody.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: Bounty Hound
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 06:20 AM

Ah, can't lay my hands on the 'Crucible' CD the song comes from, must have lent it to someone, now all I have to do is remember who!

From memory I think it was written by one of the two lads in Crucible, although I am open to correction on this. And with my anorak on, just in case anyone is wondering, 'jags' in the chorus has nothing to do with John Prescott, but refers to a style of clothing with splits in it to show the colour of the undergarment.

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,Scabby Douglas
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 06:46 AM

Link to "Crux" CD details with playable Thieves' Song

Hope this helps...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do bark
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 08:00 AM

"obviously you know me but I don't know you by that name"

I'm sorry, Two of a Hind, but that's incorrect. I haven't met you.

"Hark, hark the dogs do bark..." is merely a Mother Goose rhyme that I have heard all my life. I assumed someone had used it as the basis for a longer, modern song. It appears I was right.

Bounty Hound, thanks for the info about jags. That's interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves song, Hark hark the dogs do b
From: Paul Davenport
Date: 17 Jun 10 - 12:51 PM

Who wrote it? I'm pleased to tell you that the chorus is as traditional as people have intimated. The verses, however, were written by Gavin Davenport. Although the 'jags' in the chorus related to the stylish ragged sleeves of the gentry in the Middle Ages, Gav likes to think that it actually means the classic car. We had a guy in Sheffield around the time this song was taking shape, who was arrested for begging on the street. The police accosted him just as he was getting into his Jaguar to drive back to his home town. According to Gavin it can also apply to John Prescott MP who, in times of hardship for the common man, took delivery of his second parliamentary Jaguar. Hope this is of some help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves' Song /Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 15 - 12:37 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves' Song /Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Nov 15 - 01:19 PM

Dave, I was totally going to post about the Duke being fond of kittens.

I leave at once for other lands, for I have mentioned mittens.

In his souo, the tosspot said. Like crackers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves' Song /Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Mar 16 - 05:31 AM

I've just seen Hark, hark, the dogs do bark… one in a velvet gown attributed to the coming of King William and his Dutch associates to London - and another attribution basing it in the 13th century, which would have made Old Bill a very old Bill indeed.
Is there any reliable attribution tracking the rhyme back to its genuine origins with good references?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thieves' Song /Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Mar 16 - 09:47 AM

Also, (more contemporary) there's a short quote in Zander Nyrond's Dog Wizard

Nigel
(keeping it Filk)