Hartlepool Monkey song
Douglas Clark
My friend Roland Birchby was asking me yesterday if I knew the words
to the Hartlepool Monkey song. I dont. Can anybody help.
And on Radio 3 on Friday night there was a programme on GRimsby.
It appears it is a railway constructed town with no history, so
they asked John Connolly to write them some songs. Interesting.
And Roland has helped acquire the Ewan MacColl archive from Peggy
Seeger for Ruskin College, Oxford, where he works. What is the
full story about Caledonia University in Glasgow?
And now go look up the Hartlepool Monkey for me. It was given a
proper trial on the beach and allowed to defend itself before
they hung it for being a French spy.
--
Douglas Clark, Bath, England mailto: d.g.d...@bath.ac.uk
Lynx: Poetry from Bath .......... http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/lynx.html
Ken Battersby
wrote:
>
>My friend Roland Birchby was asking me yesterday if I knew the words
>to the Hartlepool Monkey song. I dont. Can anybody help.
Hi Douglas
Chorus:
Old folk, young folk, everyone and each
Come and see the Frenchie that's landed on the beach
He's got long arms, a great long tail he's covered all in hair
We think that he's a spy and we'll hang him in the square.
1.
It 'appened in old 'Artlepool about the time wi' France
The Emperor Napoleon was leading us a dance.
Down along the coast came a British man-o-war
The captains old pet monkey got washed up on the shore.
2.
The Lord Mayor of 'Artlepool was walking by the shore
There he saw a funny thing 'e'd never seen before
Sitting on the sand was a little hairy man
Clutching a banana in his hairy little hand.
3.
The Mayor told the town clerk who hurried to the shore
There he saw the little man where he had been before
A crowd had gathered round him for he was the finest sight
Since the timber yard caught fire on the previous Friday night.
4.
Constable Parsons hurried to the scene
He took out his notebook and he licked his pencil clean
He said, "Causing a disturbance is a serious offence
And anything you say will go down in your defence."
5.
But when this little man spoke a funny thing was heard
Constable Parsons couldn't understand a word
The reason for his puzzlement the crowd could plainly see
The little man's a foreigner from far across the sea.
6.
So they hung that little man from a gallows in the town
With a rope around his neck and his tail all hanging down
As a warning to Napoleon to make himself a rule
Not to send his little hairy spies to dear old 'Artlepool.
I was once at the Whitby folk festival and somebody was singing this
song in a pub - complete with toy monkey with a noose round it's neck.
An elderly gentleman holidaymaker in a corner was literally jumping up
and down and going purple with rage. All I can say is, "Honest
officer, it weren't my fault"; all I said was "I bet he's from
Hartlepool". It turned out he was. I have never left a pub faster in
my life. Old he may have been, but strewth, was he big - and angry.
I still can't figure out why he picked on me and not the singer.
Regards
Ken Battersby
Tiddy Ogg
>I was once at the Whitby folk festival and somebody was singing this
>song in a pub - complete with toy monkey with a noose round it's neck.
>An elderly gentleman holidaymaker in a corner was literally jumping up
>and down and going purple with rage. All I can say is, "Honest
>officer, it weren't my fault"; all I said was "I bet he's from
>Hartlepool". It turned out he was. I have never left a pub faster in
>my life. Old he may have been, but strewth, was he big - and angry.
>I still can't figure out why he picked on me and not the singer.
You beat me to it with the words, although I have turned them into
limericks if anyone cared... No I thought not.
Whenever I hear the song it reminds me of my time as a kid, around
1950. We heard that a German was working on a house in the village,
and all we kids trooped round to look at him, expecting him to have 2
heads or something.
We were all very disappointed when he looked normal.
So in less sophisticated times I can quite believe the story.
Tiddy.
Grey dolphin legend now here:
http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~tiddyogg/gdolphin.htm
Douglas Clark
Thanks Ken. I'll send it to Roland.
Chris Rockcliffe
Ken Battersby wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Feb 2001 07:25:45 GMT, exx...@bath.ac.uk (Douglas Clark)
> wrote:
>
> >My friend Roland Birchby was asking me yesterday if I knew the words
> >to the Hartlepool Monkey song. I dont. Can anybody help.
>
> Hi Douglas
>
> Chorus:
> Old folk, young folk, everyone and each
> Come and see the Frenchie that's landed on the beach
> He's got long arms, a great long tail he's covered all in hair
> We think that he's a spy and we'll hang him in the square.
(rest of funny song snipped)
> I was once at the Whitby folk festival and somebody was singing this
> song in a pub - complete with toy monkey with a noose round it's neck.
> An elderly gentleman holidaymaker in a corner was literally jumping up
> and down and going purple with rage. All I can say is, "Honest
> officer, it weren't my fault"; all I said was "I bet he's from
> Hartlepool". It turned out he was. I have never left a pub faster in
> my life. Old he may have been, but strewth, was he big - and angry.
> I still can't figure out why he picked on me and not the singer.
Weel.. let me try an' explain it to ye hinny!
You were as well to run from the said gent'!. "Monkeyhanger!"... and
other rhetorical abuse such as, "Hung any monkeys lately?", certainly have
common usage among geordies and in local N.E. UK usenet hierarchy and FC
supporter newsgroups.
Among some geordies of course, 'monkeyhangers' (citizens of Hartlepool or
supporters of H' Utd) are only one step higher than 'makems' (citizens of
Sunderland and supporters of the FC etc). Football related terms of abuse
and FC regionalism lives on I'm afraid. I understand that the use of the
term 'monkeyhanger', has spread well beyond Teeside to Yorkshire and
beyond - amongst the same footy crowd.
The monkey story is related in the excellent Hartlepool maritime Museum -
and though undoubtedly true that a monkey was found washed up - whether it
was actually tried and hung is a matter of some conjecture. Hartlepool
was - and still is - an important sea port, with many foreign ships and
sailors - coming and going - down the centuries. In that regard,
Hartlepool was somewhat more cosmopolitan than land-locked areas with
regard what a Frenchman actually looked like.
For tourists, the story makes for funny reading first time round, but
'wears a bit thin' on the poor people of Hartlepool, who - other than the
hysterical hanging of hairy Napoleonic 'spies' - could be associated with
many other interesting historical facts regarding their town. (The
current careful restoration of 'HMS Trincomalee' - a Napoleonic ship of
the line - is worth a visit btw)
Hartlepool's most famous folk singing and song-writing son, Jez Lowe, has
- strangely enough - resisted the temptation to write his own version of a
monkey song...
...can't think why.
Hope this helps...
BTW, that the term 'geordie', itself originated as a Scottish and
Northumbrian Jacobite term of abuse for Newcastle's pro Hanoverian
citizens of 1715 and 1745 - and although worn with pride at the time - is
largely forgotten these days. (resulting btw - from 3 years of oppressive
Scottish occupation during the earlier Civil War)
Gan canny,
Chris Rockcliffe
Chris Rockcliffe
Tiddy Ogg wrote:
> You beat me to it with the words, although I have turned them into
> limericks if anyone cared... No I thought not.
>
> Tiddy.
I'm curious about the term 'Tiddy Ogg' or 'Tiddy Oggy' (as in your screen
name). My father - who was in the navy for many years - talked lovingly
of 'Tiddy Oggies', which I always assumed he must have tried in Plymouth
or some place - and that it was some kind of Cornish/Devon pastie thing.
Perhaps you could elucidate - as the next time I venture down Penzance way
- I intend to seek out 'the real thing'! Is there a song about them btw?
gan canny,
Chris Rockcliffe
Tiddy Ogg
Two songs that I know of:
There's Cyril Tawney's lovely "The Oggie Man"
and one by the Yetties, whose title I cannot recall containing the
lines:
Oh how happy I would be,
If I go back to the West country
Where tiddy oggies grow on trees...
Yes they are Cornish pasties. I expect someone else has more info on
the locality of the term.
Tiddy is a variant of tatie for potato, but that's my limit of
knowledge.
jen
ken...@kokopelli.co.uk (Ken Battersby) wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Feb 2001 07:25:45 GMT, exx...@bath.ac.uk (Douglas Clark)
> wrote:
>
> >
> >My friend Roland Birchby was asking me yesterday if I knew the words
> >to the Hartlepool Monkey song. I dont. Can anybody help.
Didn't Lucinda Lambton cover this song and story in one of her bizarre
programmes - Animal Crackers or somesuch? She did the Lambton Worm and
who killed Cock Robin as well. I can't think where else I would have
heard it given my abysmal musical education.
Jennifer
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Dave Fawthrop
"Chris Rockcliffe" <chrisro...@scripto99.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3A86B592...@scripto99.demon.co.uk...
>
>
> Ken Battersby wrote:
>
> On Sun, 11 Feb 2001 07:25:45 GMT, exx...@bath.ac.uk (Douglas Clark)
> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Douglas
>
> Chorus:
> Old folk, young folk, everyone and each
> Come and see the Frenchie that's landed on the beach
> He's got long arms, a great long tail he's covered all in hair
> We think that he's a spy and we'll hang him in the square.
************************************************************
* Non PC Warning! Social Workers et. al. read no further. *
************************************************************
Reminds me that we are looking for *more* verses to "Darkies Sunday School"
to much the same tune.
Adam was a ranger in the local public park.
Caught Eve up a tree eating apples for a lark.
Now Adam was a weak man who hadn't any back
So he took a bite of apple and he promptly got the sack.
Chorus
Old folk, Young folk, everybody come.
Join the Darkies Sunday School and make yourselves at ho o o om.
Bring your sticks of chewing gum and squat upon the floor.
An we'll tell you bible stories that you've never heard before.
Elijah was a prophet of very great renown.
He had a traveling circus which he took from town to town.
He prophesied successfully most every afternoon
And later in the evening went up in a fire balloon.
Sung by a group of young people called the "Lindley Roughs" Huddersfield, in
the late 1920s to early 1930s.
Collected from my *very* respectable mother who was a School Teacher at the
time.
How things change.
--
Dave Fawthrop da...@hyphenologist.co.uk
Don't eat cousin Banana he shares 50% of your genes
Ally
Ally
Dave Hunt
>
>>
>>I'm curious about the term 'Tiddy Ogg' or 'Tiddy Oggy' (as in your screen
>>name). My father - who was in the navy for many years - talked lovingly
>>of 'Tiddy Oggies', which I always assumed he must have tried in Plymouth
>>or some place - and that it was some kind of Cornish/Devon pastie thing.
>>Perhaps you could elucidate - as the next time I venture down Penzance way
>>- I intend to seek out 'the real thing'! Is there a song about them btw?
>>
>>gan canny,
>>Chris Rockcliffe
>Two songs that I know of:
>There's Cyril Tawney's lovely "The Oggie Man"
>and one by the Yetties, whose title I cannot recall containing the
>lines:
>Oh how happy I would be,
>If I go back to the West country
>Where tiddy oggies grow on trees...
>
More verses
Goin' up old Camborne Hill
Down by Helston Ferry
Come on jagger don't be slow
Come on jagger 'urry
Chorus
O 'ow 'appy us'll be
When us gets to the West Country
Where the oggies grows on trees
Cor bugger jagger
'alf a pond of flour and lard
Makes lovely clagger.
Just enough for you and me
Cor bugger jagger
Ch.
You make fast I'll make fast
Make fast the dinghy
You make fast kiss my a---
Make fast the dinghy
(tune change)
And we'll all go back to oggie land, to oggie land, to oggie land
and we'll all go back to oggie land
where they can't tell salt from -
tissue paper, tissue paper, marmelade and jam!
OGGIE - OGGIE - OGGIE!!
Dave Hunt...Shropshire
----share what you know...learn what you don't----
Chris Ryall
>2.
>The Lord Mayor of 'Artlepool was walking by the shore
>There he saw a funny thing 'e'd never seen before
>Sitting on the sand was a little hairy man
>Clutching a banana in his hairy little hand.
Wot! No Mandelson jokes yet !! Come on Jez!
>4.
>Constable Parsons hurried to the scene
>He took out his notebook and he licked his pencil clean
>He said, "Causing a disturbance is a serious offence
>And anything you say will go down in your defence."
be used in evidence
>
--
Chris Ryall Birkenhead UK
Ken Battersby
wrote:
>so ... er.... how does the tune go, then? Anyone got some abcs?
>
>Ally
>
Hi Ally
If you are going to Braithwaite for the <uk.local.cumbria> meeting on
March 10th, I may be able to get a tape of "the Hartlepool Monkey
Song" to give you.
By the way, did you receive the words to "the Cock Fight" etc, I
e-mailed you? - sorry they took so long.
Regards
Ken Battersby
Derek Schofield
enlightened days, he sings "Derby" Sunday School instead......
Derek Schofield
Dave Fawthrop wrote in message <966qst$4k1$2...@plutonium.compulink.co.uk>...
Chris Ryall
>
>************************************************************
>* Non PC Warning! Social Workers et. al. read no further. *
>************************************************************
It's actually only the darkie chorus that is patronising.
Most of the verse are quite droll.
>
>Reminds me that we are looking for *more* verses to "Darkies Sunday School"
>to much the same tune.
>
>Adam was a ranger in the local public park.
>Caught Eve up a tree eating apples for a lark.
>Now Adam was a weak man who hadn't any back
>So he took a bite of apple and he promptly got the sack.
>
>Chorus
>Old folk, Young folk, everybody come.
>Join the Darkies Sunday School and make yourselves at ho o o om.
>Bring your sticks of chewing gum and squat upon the floor.
>An we'll tell you bible stories that you've never heard before.
This really has to go nowadays ..
>
>Elijah was a prophet of very great renown.
>He had a traveling circus which he took from town to town.
>He prophesied successfully most every afternoon
>And later in the evening went up in a fire balloon.
Gosh ...
Jonah was a landsman with a longing for a sail
so he booked himself a passage on a transatlantic whale
but the atmospheric pressure got too much for Jonah's chest
so he just pressed a button and the whale did the rest
Shadrach Meshach and Abednigo
so enraged the King that in the fire they had to go
He turned up the fiery furnace but they didn't feel a thing
for they wore asbestos undies and the laugh was on the king
best of all
Moses in the bulrushes all wrapped up in swathe
Pharoah's daughter found him when she went down to bathe
She took him back to Pharoah said "I found him on the shore"
and Pharoah winked his eye and said "I've heard that one before"
I used to do at least one more verse. Forgotten, too many burgers.
Doc Rowe
monkey is presumably set in Napoleonic war time - around the early 1800s -
and associated with the fear of invaders … the monkey talked gibberish -
clearly French and was thus hung as a spy.
But I have just found (...sort of odd things I have in my collection… ) a
reference to a ruling in the Scottish Court of Sessions - in 1614 - that a
certain vessel could not be regarded as an abandoned wreck for people to
salvage - because there was a living creature on board - an ox.
and in ... 1772 at Boddam, Aberdeenshire ... when local people intended to
pillage the "Annie", a wrecked boat, they actually found a monkey on board ..
Guess what, they decided to call it a foreign spy, then hanged it - and were
thus free to salvage the cargo. …
"Oggies", by the way, ARE Devon equivalents of Cornish Pasties ... and uz down
in DEb'n "can't sugar vrum tissue paper" .... but then I only ever put salt on
my breakfast cereal, Dave ..
Doc Rowe
Paul Burgess
like most, to have got her (partial) version from the recording by
Bobbie Comber. It was recorded in Sept. 1933 as "Sunday School
Stories", with compostion credited to Weston-Garnet-Spencer.
It has been reissued on a Bobbie Comber cassette called "Barnacle Bill
the Sailor" on Poppy GXP003. We used to do it in Old Swan Band.
Interesting both Bobbie Combers and Freda'versions had the chorus
"Old folks younf folks, everybody come,
To our little Sunday school where we'll have lots of fun,
Bring your toffee apples and sit down upon the floor,
And we'll tell you Bible Stories like you've never heard before"
No mention of "darkies" even at a time when this would not have been
considered offensive. Is that aspect original, having been dropped by
Comber, or has it been added later, perhaps as a "non-PC" gesture?
Chris Beeson
> From: Chris Ryall <ch...@cavendish.demon.co.uk>
> Newsgroups: uk.music.folk
> Subject: Darkies Sunday School Was: Hartlepool Monkey song
> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 18:20:06 +0000
> Reply-To: Chris Ryall <chris...@cavendish.demon.co.uk>
Goliath was a mighty man, a mighty man was he;
David was a little man, as little as can be.
David had a little sling, and half a brick as well,
and he slung it at Goliath, and Goliath went to Young folks, old folks etc
Chris Beeson
fokeman
every opportunity. It is amazing how much the verses seem to differ from one
version to another. Perhaps it was a "make it up as you go"
Old folks young folks, everybody come
Join the local Sunday School and have a bit of fun,
Bring your sticks of chewing gum and sit upon the floor
And we'll tell you bible stories like you've never heard before.
Adam was the father of the blessed human race,
He got a job as gardner, twas a very pleasant place,
He mowed the lawn and pruned the trees and combed the lion's back
But he took to pinching apples so he promptly got the sack.
Old folks etc.
This is just one verse of many and very funny it was too.....
best wishes
Fokeman
Chris Ryall
> Jonah was a landsman with a longing for a sail
> Shadrach Meshach and Abednigo
..
> Moses in the bulrushes all wrapped up in swathe
..
> I used to do at least one more verse. Forgotten, too many burgers.
New Altzheimer's drug seems to work
Aaron the priest was longing for a laugh
So he opened up a night club that he called the Golden Calf
Of course the police got wind of it, and rounded up the lot
and Chief Inspector Moses got promoted on the spot
The Lord said unto Noah "It's gonna rain today"
So Noah built a bloody great ark in which to sail away
The animals went in two by two but soon got up to tricks
And though they went in two by two, they came out six by six
--
Chris Ryall