Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy

Subject: o'tooles black and tan terrier has bitte
From: GUEST,malcolm
Date: 26 Feb 00 - 03:14 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: o'tooles black and tan terrier has b
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Feb 00 - 03:32 PM

A little more info here, please?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: o'tooles black and tan terrier has b
From: GUEST,malcolmb
Date: 26 Feb 00 - 04:01 PM

All I have is the title "o'tooles black and tan terrier has bitten me twenty pound dog"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: o'tooles black and tan terrier has b
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 27 Feb 00 - 09:57 AM

It's called Champion, He Was A Dandy and the chorus is...

Champion, he was a dandy
Till Murphy, that dirty old sod,
Came along with his black-and-tan terrier
And murdered me twenty pound dog.

I would give you the verses too but I don't know them. This is a popular song from, I guess, the first 20 or 30 years of last century. Bob Davenport, as I recall, recorded this in the 1970s for Leader/Trailer. At least you have the title now. Good luck.

All the best,
Dan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: o'tooles black and tan terrier has b
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 28 Feb 00 - 08:15 AM

Dan

This one has been on my "wants"list for years!

Regards

Subject: Lyr Add: CHAMPION HE WAS A DANDY
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 28 Feb 00 - 04:13 PM

With compliments:-

Champion He Was a Dandy.

(As sung by Bob Davenport with the Marsden Rattlers on the 1971 LP on the Trailer label LER 3008)

Me name it is Michael McCarthy, I come from the County of Down,
I'd a bet with one Michael O'Flaherty that me bulldog could murder the town.

I'd heard of one bold Terence Murphy, he lived away out in the bog,
He kept an old black and tan terrier and he swore it could murder me dog.

Chorus.
Ohhhhhhh - Champion he was a dandy, 'til Murphy the dirty old hog,
Came along with his black and tan terrier and he murdered me twenty pound dog.

I set off my bold twenty pounder, he looked just as fit as a king,
He sized up the black and tan terrier, as they both chassee'd right round the ring.

They fought for one hour and a quarter, 'till champion slipped in the bog,
Then in stepped the black and tan terrier and a corpse lay me twenty pound dog.

Chorus:-

I swore that I'd have satisfaction, so I offered me coat and me hat,
And I walloped that whole Murphy faction, from big Terence down to little Pat.

Then I made a bee-line for the terrier, and I kicked it way out in the bog,
And all the way home I thought, Michael, there's revenge for your twenty pound dog.

Chorus:-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: o'tooles black and tan terrier has b
From: Martin _Ryan
Date: 28 Feb 00 - 06:10 PM

Many thanks! As I read it - and no doubt when I try to sing it - the version I heard years ago creeps back to memory. Minor differences only, I reckon.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 10:35 AM

Hello Martin- it may be 15 years on but have just come across this- have never met anyone in Ireland who'd even heard of the song, even after singing it for ten years (not ALL the time) in West Cork- it must originate there with Murphy and McCarthy the main characters!

Bob Davenport certainly recorded it for Trailer in 1971- I was one of the band then- recorded at Newcastle Guildhall.

Bob got it from Jack Elliott of Birtley, Co Durham. who died in 1966- his daughter Doreen (now 87) says her dad learned it from an Irishman who was working locally- it wasn't included in MacColl's 'Elliotts of Birtley' Folkways LP of 1961- maybe not PC enough?- and still not suitable for busking the Cruft's queue.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,#
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 10:44 AM

Here it is on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 04:43 PM

Hi Jim!

It was a regular item at the Athlone Folk Club (founded by the great whistle player, Tom McHale) in the '70's - usually sung by a mandolin player from Kilbegggan called Mick Guilfoyle, if I remember correctly.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 15 - 06:59 PM

Wonderful, Wonderful YouTube performance - that is what the music we love is all about!!!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 05:20 AM

Well, that's all news to me, but very interesting. I'd suspect that anyone singing it in an English context would have at least indirectly picked it up from the Jack Elliott version- yer man Malcolm Fox does a good job of it... I don't know if Jack ever recorded it himself.
As for Athlone, maybe it was sung locally before the folk club, but certainly, in the Irish context, the influence of Bob Davenport material was just as long as that of Louis Killen, so who knows?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 05:42 AM

brummy/geordie folk singer Nick Fenwick used to sing this one

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: MartinRyan
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 07:03 AM

Agreed, Jim - it's quite likely the Athlone version came from England. Tony Holleran would know - I might drop him a line.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,Don Day
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 09:58 AM

Dandy, he was a champion
Til Murphy the dirty old dog
He came down the road with his natterjack toad
And he murdered me 20 pound frog.

A parody by the Kippers. Does anyone have the lyrics?

Subject: Lyr Add: THE TWENTY-POUND DOG
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Aug 15 - 08:16 PM

Flying Cloud: And One Hundred and Fifty Other Old Time Songs and Ballads ... compiled by M. C. Dean (Virginia Minnesota: The Quickprint, 1922), page 68:


THE TWENTY-POUND DOG.

My name it is Dennis Mulcahey and I live in this town of renown.
I made a bet with one Terrence Mahaffey that my bulldog could wallop the town.
He said he knew one Ted O'Murphy that lived way down below in the bog,
Had an old black and tan Irish terrier that would murder me twenty-pound dog.

CHORUS: Then, gentlemen, he was a dandy until Murphy, the dirty old tog,
Came along with his terrier called Dandy—faith! he murdered me twenty-pound dog.

Then I brought out my bold twenty pounder and he was gay as a king.
He eyed Murphy's black and tan terrier and then they chassede(sic) 'round the ring.
They fought for an hour and a quarter, way down in Murphy's old bog,
But the terrier walked off with the laurels, while a corpse lay my twenty-pound dog.

Then I swore that I would have satisfaction and I off with me coat and me hat,
And I went for the whole Murphy faction from big Ted down to young Pat.
Now I own the black and tan terrier and I drove them clean out of the bog,
And all the way home I cried vengeance, yes, vengeance for me twenty-pound dog.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Aug 15 - 04:08 AM

Nice one, Jim! Think I have a PDF copy of that book(let) - and never noticed the dog!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,Oldtimer
Date: 04 Aug 15 - 07:58 AM

Martin , you are correct .Mick Guilfoyle got the song from Tom Madden ( formerly Tullamore ) who spent a lot of his youthful years on the London & UK folk circuit.It was an obligatory family favourite for Mrs Flannerys Ranters, wherever the venue between Galway & Wexford . Tony would like to hear from you , he is due home from hospital later this week,current forecast is good .Louis

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Champion, He Was a Dandy
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 04 Aug 15 - 08:17 AM

Again, very interesting & much thanks to Jim Dixon- the words on the Quickprint site are very close to Jack Elliott's version-so maybe A Corkman heard the song, changed the surnames, went to Birtley & Jack heard it from him?
How's that for a theory as to how it got into UK folk clubs- have little doubt that Nick Fenwick heard it from Bob, or maybe even from Jack (d.1966) as he's a fellow Geordie codger..
Still not a great song for any PC aware situation, it stands as a period piece, as we all hope that dogfighting is a thing of the past?- well we can hope anyway...