Lyr Add: Political Barbershop: Republican 1888

Subject: Lyr Add: Political Barbershop: Republican 1888
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Aug 05 - 02:50 AM

True Blue Republican Campaign Songs for 1888
Copyrighted by S. Brainard's Sons, Chicago

POLITICAL BARBER SHOP
Arr. By R. Campaign

2/4 time, key of A

1:
This nation's badly muddled up, And none a doubt can harbor
This world is all a barbershop, And many act the barber
And many act the barber, Yes act the campaign barber.

Cho 1:
O – ho! O – ho!, Yes act the campaign barber
O – ho! O – ho!, Yes act the campaign barber

2:
There's Grover he's a barber bold, He scraped the mugwumps clean, sir,
He uses English free trade soap, The softest ever seen sir:
His lather's mighty mean sir, It turned the mugwumps green sir

Cho 2:
O – ho! O – ho!, It turned the mugwumps green, sir
O – ho! O – ho!, It turned the mugwumps green, sir

3:
A learned barber too, is he, He tells the pop u la tion,
Of ev'ry town to which he goes, In al this mighty nation;
He studies ev'ry day, sir, The Cy clo pe di a, sir,

Cho 3:
O – ho! O – ho!, The cy clo pe di a, sir
O – ho! O – ho!, The cy clo pe di a, sir

4:
He's run the shop for four long years, and wants to make it eight, sir,
But the hand is writing on the wall, The word "ab squat u late," sir,
And he'll ab squat u late, sir, At a two forty gait sir.

Cho 4:
O – ho! O – ho!, At a two forty gait, sir
O – ho! O – ho!, At a two forty gait, sir

5:
Tnat Kansas lad's a barber too, He shaves like a tornado,
He scraped up Voorhees' hide so sleek, Than Dan Tho't he was flayed, O!
Dan's friends say he'd have stayed, O, But for too much lemon aid, O!

Cho 5:
O – ho! O – ho!, 'Twas Jersey lemonade, O!
O – ho! O – ho!, 'Twas Jersey lemonade, O!

6:
They say our sign's a bloody shirt, And maybe that is true , sir,
But down beneath the stains you'll find The color is true blue, sir
That;s the right color too, sir, It isn't gray, it's blue sir,

Cho 6:
O – ho! O – ho!, It isn't gray, it's blue sir.
O – ho! O – ho!, It isn't gray, it's blue sir.

7:
But next November we'll clean out, The whitehouse barbershop, sir,
The Brigadiers and Grover, too, Will all hear something drop, sir,
Yes, down they'll go kerflop, sir, And we'll bob up on top, sir,

Cho 7:
O – ho! O – ho!, And we'll bob up on top, sir.
O – ho! O – ho!, And we'll bob up on top, sir.

Single voice, First Tenor, on first two lines of verse,
Third phrase of verse by 2d tenor up to the comma, then bass to end.

Chorus: The "O – ho! O – ho!" is by 1st and 2nd tenors, with remainder in 4 parts.

The brief parts that are "multi-note" are basically a "recitative" on an A chord, with a brief inflection to D, I believe. The song is basically a solo voice, with a response in "barbershop" harmony.

With simple accompaniment, could probably be worked out to do as a duet, but a single solo voice couldn't easily preserve the "verse – response" structure.

chico - you indicated lesser interest in this one, but it was the next one in the book.

John