Lyr Add: Connecticut Peddler

Subject: ADD: Connecticut Peddler
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 04:10 AM

In another thread, somebody mentioned this song, which they learned from a school songbook. I found lyrics at http://www.stanransom.com/peddeler.htm:

The Connecticut Pedlar
by H.W. Dunbar. Copyright 1851.  Sung by "the blind brothers, J.W. Dunbar, H.W. Dunbar, Q.A. Dunbar."  Published by Oliver Ditson, Boston, MA.   "Sung at their concerts throughout the country."

                        THE CONNECTICUT PEDLAR

I'm a Pedlar, I'm a Pedlar, I'm a Pedlar from Connecticut,
I'm a Pedlar, I'm a Pedlar, pray don't you want to buy.
Many goods have I in store, sir, Listen while I name them o'er sir,
Finer goods than e'er you saw before, sir,
Very splendid goods have I to sell in store, sir,
Listen while I name them o'er.

Wooden wares, carpets for parlors and stairs,
Matches and Spanish cigars, Articles splendid I tell you,
Here are tins, papers of needles and pins,
Tracts upon popular sins, Any of which I would sell [you]

And here is Thomsonian medicine, Richest beyond all comparison,
Killing the seeds of diseases, Appetite while it increases,
Hot drops and strong composition will keep you in healthy condition,
So you will ne'er need a physician again.

Here are combs, Elegant brushes and brooms,
Made for the sweeping of rooms, Finish'd both smoothly and neatly,
Here are knives, Ribbons and silks for your wives,
Whistles and jews-harps and fifes,
On which your sons will play sweetly

And here is the seed of asparagus,
Lettuce, beets, onions and peppergrass,
From the United Societies, Seeds of all kinds and varieties,
Shaving soap, excellent razor-strops,
Razors that smoothly will shave your chops,
Swaim's panacea, and Jones's drops, too.

I'm a pedlar, I'm a pedlar, I'm a pedlar from Connecticut,
I'm a pedlar, I'm a pedlar, pray don't you want to buy!

           THE CONNECTICUT PEDDLER -- STAN RANSOM

                    Copyright 1951 Stanley A. Ransom

This is the version I sing, with my addition of the second verse:

I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler from Connecticut,
I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, and don't you want to buy.

Many things have I in store, So many things,
You never saw so many things you never saw before,
So very many things you never saw before,
So listen while I name them o'er.

Here are pins, Papers of needles in tins,
Tracts upon popular sins, Any of which I will sell you,
And here are the seeds of asparagus,
Lettuce, beets, onions and peppergrass,
From the limits of society, Seeds of all kinds and variety.

I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler from Connecticut,
I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, and don't you want to buy.

I've a pack of songs to share, So many songs,
You never heard so many songs you never knew were there,
So very many songs from here and everywhere,
So listen to them all with care.

Here's a song, Learn it and take it along,
Then to you it will belong, Pass it along to another,
Songs from the sea and the East and West,
Songs of the kind that you like the best,
Songs of the mountain and forest plain,
Sing them over and over again.

I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler from Connecticut,
I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, and don't you want to buy?

Copyright by Stanley A. Ransom, Jr. (BMI)
www.stanransom.com

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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Connecticut Peddler, The

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler, I'm a peddler from Connecticut... And don't you want to buy?" He offers "many goods you never saw before," such as pins, "tracts upon popular sins," and many sorts of seeds.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: commerce money travel nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 317-320, "The Connecticut Peddler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15533
File: LxA317

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

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Sheet music here (click) at Levy and here (click) at American Memory Collection.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Connecticut Peddler
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 09:54 AM

My old friend the late Bill Bonyun sang this up and down the east coast in his 1940s-1980s concerts for schoolchildren, with great joy and verve.

So this 1851 obscurity definitely has a life in a lot of now adult minds. I miss Bill and can hear him singing it in my mind. He was the "peddler from Connecticut" to the life.

Bob Coltman