Lyr Add: Down at the Old Bull and Bush

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN AT THE OLD BULL AND BUSH
From: MMario
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 04:59 PM

Thanks to John in Brisbane.

DOWN AT THE OLD BULL AND BUSH
(Lyrics - Andrew B. Sterling, Russell Hunting, Percy Krone)
(Music - Harry Von Tilzer - 1903)

1. Talk about the shade of the sheltering palm.
Praise the bamboo tree with its wide spreading charm.
There's a little oak down our old Hampstead town.
You know the place. it has won great renown.
Often with my sweetheart on a bright summer's day,
To the little pub there my footsteps will stray.
If she hesitates when she looks at the sign,
Promptly I whisper, "Now do not decline."

CHORUS: Come, come, come and make eyes at me
Down at the old Bull and Bush.
Come, come drink some port wine with me
Down at the old Bull and Bush. (Bush, bush)
Hear the little German band.
Just let me hold your hand, dear.
Do, do, come and have a drink or two
Down at the old Bull and Bush. (Bush, bush)

2. In the little parlour on a cold winter's night
All is very cheerful, so snug and so bright
Nell looks at me not now with a frown
She would not change with the queen and her crown.
It was there I first met the joy of my life
She gave her troth and is now my dear wife
Her eyes always glisten when she sees the old sign
So all of you join in a glass of good wine

Chorus x2

Midi sent to alan, NWC file to DickG.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: beachcomber
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 03:13 PM

MMario

Am I correct.. There is a line of "nonsense" sounds after the line in the chorus that goes " Hear the little German Band" and sounds something like "Tan ta ra ra tan ta ra" ??

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: MMario
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 03:23 PM

I don't know. Nothing like that marked in the music and I 've never heard the song.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: beachcomber
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 03:34 PM

yes I've heard the tune (Sat night in East End pubs, London ages ago) I did'nt have the full lyric for which much thanks MMario but I just felt that the full chorus tune needed an extra line to fill it up and seemed to remember some kind of "Bavarian Brass Band sounds" being made in it. Cheers mate

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: MMario
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 03:42 PM

no reason it couldn't be performed that way

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: Greyeyes
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 04:20 PM

I'm not an east ender but I'm pretty sure the nonsense sound comes at the end of the first line of the chorus:

come, come, come and make eyes at me down at the old Bull and Bush (da da da da da)

This is usually the loudest part as all the people who either don't know the words or can't sing join in as well. There must be some cockney mudcatters who can verify this.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: Snuffy
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 05:42 PM

The bit after "German band" is usually dum dums (or der ders) to the tune of the first line of "Ach Du lieber Augustin" i.e. typical german oom-pah band music.

And I think "Bush! Bush!" is only at the end of the chorus, not in the middle as well.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: Brakn
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 08:20 PM

This was originally called "UNDER THE ANHEUSER BUSH" when it was published in 1903.

Music by Harry Von Tilzer.
Words by Andrew B. Sterling.
It's in the Levy collection.

I'm sure I read years ago that the lyrics were changed to "Down at the old Bull and Bush" during the First WW because of anti-German feelings! (Like German Shepherd was changed to Alsatian)

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: MMario
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 09:31 PM

I just copy the lyrics off the page, guys...variants are up to you who have actually heard it

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: rangeroger
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 10:42 PM

It's amazing the memories a song can bring.

When I lived in England, our house was in Golders Green on the edge of Hampstead Heath.The Bull and Bush was actually UP at the top of the hill from Golders Green.

While I wasn't old enough to go in the pub, as soon as I started reading the lyrics I could picture the pub and the oak tree that stood outside.

I saw it a lot as the model boat pond was directly across the road from it.

MMario,thank you for the memories.

rr

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: MMario
Date: 02 Nov 00 - 10:47 PM

Thank John_in_brisbane....he sent me the gif, I just transcribed it.

Subject: RE: Tune Add: DOwn at the old Bull and Bush
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 03 Nov 00 - 03:53 AM

G'day,
Click here for the midi, from the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Down at the Old Bull and Bush
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 14 Aug 20 - 02:57 PM

I posted the info below on another thread about the song "Come and Hear the German Band" and thought it sensible to post it here as well.

"Down At The Old Bull and Bush was a rewrite of an American song "Under The Anheuser Bush" commissioned by the Annheuser-Busch Brewery.It was a hit for Billy Murray in the US and Florrie Forde sang the Old B&B to great success in the UK."

Billy Murray

LFF