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The Galloway Man

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Alternative title: The Old Sow

Performer: Smith, Wisdom
Place Collected: Cheltenham
Date collected: 1974 (2 Feb)
Collector: Yates, Mike
Roud Number: 1737

Affectionately known as “The Grunting F**ting Whistling Song”, this item has a long history.  The Scottish writer Tobias Smolett (1721-1771) mentioned in the book Peregrine Pickle (1751), a “celebrated English ditty” of which the burthen (chorus) was “The Pigs they lie with their Arses Bare”.  Later a version is noted earlier in the 19th century on a broadside as “Our little pigs lie on very good straw”, with the words:

Little pigs lie on very good straw,
Straw, straw, shan diddle daw!

Little pigs lie on very good straw,
Lillipulari, my dad was a bonny wee man.

Little pigs eat the best of praties,
Praties, praties, shan diddle dales!

Little pigs eat the best of praties,
Lillipulari, my dad was a bonny wee man.

Little pigs make the best of bacon,
Bacon, bacon, shan diddle daken!

Little pigs make the best of bacon,
Lillipulari, my dad was a bonny wee man.

 Our old sow’s got the whooping cough
Cough, cough [dan diddle ough)
Our old sow’s got the whooping cough
Lillipulari, my dad was a bonny wee man.]

And there’s an end to our little song,
Song, song, dan diddle dong!

And there’s an end to our little song,
Lillipulari, my dad was a bonny wee man.

A version in the Harry Albino collected with the note “Sung by Sgt Wilcox in Jamaica, Nr 6 company R.G.A. (Royal Garrison Artillery) between 1909 and 1912” seems to be an old version:

Oh the little pigs lay in a farmer’s yard
(grunt)-ard, (splutter)-ard, (whistle) –ard, and a diderli-ard
Oh the little pigs lay in a farmer’s yard
(grunt)-ard, (splutter)-ard, (whistle) –ard, and a diderli-ard
And they do with a lillieger-lie.
Here comes the cannibal man
(grunt)-an, (splutter)-an, (whistle) –an,
Here comes the cannibal man.

The little pigs lay with their tails curled up, etc

The little pigs makes the best of pork, etc

The old sow learns the young ‘uns to grunt, etc

And now that I have sung you my song, etc

I hopes I haven’t detained yer too long, etc

Nothing more is known of Sgt Wilcox except to note that it is predominantly a west Midlands surname.

However, most of the versions recently collected in Gloucestershire can be traced back to a recording by Albert Richardson in 1927.  These were the words sung by Albert Richardson:

There was an old farmer he had an old sow, etc

Now this old sow she had some little pigs

Now these little pigs they muddled them up

Now these little pigs they huddled in straw

Now these little pigs they had some curly tails

Now these little pigs they had to be stuck

Now these little pigs they made a bit of bacon

 Now these little pigs they made a bit of ham

Versions based on Albert Richardson have been collected in Gloucestershire from:

  • Ray Hartland of Tirley
  • Bill Cooper of Witcombe
  • Reg Barnes of Upton St Leonards
  • Reg Hannis of Cranham

However, distinctive versions have appeared, none more so than gypsy Wisdom Smith’s “Galloway Man”, Pat Turner’s “Comical Farmer” and Peter Hill’s “Old Sow”.

Nearly all of the collected versions come from England.  A rather eccentric version was recorded by the English Singer Cyril Smith with the American Rudy Vallee & his Connecticut Yankees, probably in the 30s.

 

Notes by Gwilym Davies


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