Haben Aboo an' a Banner

DESCRIPTION: The singer's family members are disreputable (father hanged for sheep stealing, mother burnt as a witch) and the singer himself fucks all comers in various positions for various reasons.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Greig/Duncan7)
KEYWORDS: crime execution commerce bawdy nonballad family witch
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig/Duncan7 1446, "When I Was a Souter in Fife" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, DICKDAR3
Roud #7275
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as102960, "Dick Heuston, the Cobbler" ("My name is Dick Heuston, the Cobbler"), W. S. & J. Crowley (Baltimore), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher" ("hedger and ditcher" line) and references there
cf. "I Used to Work in Chicago" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Cobbler" (theme) and references there
NOTES [138 words]: Greig/Duncan7: "Cf. 'Wi' ma habben a boo an a banner' in the Arthur Argo collection of songs in the archive of the School of Scottish Studies." The Greig/Duncan7 are clearly either fragments of this song or floating lines common to it. The description is from the text at "The John Patrick Collection" at the folklore site. The text there has as its source Arthur Argo, A Wee Thread O' Blue [Prestige LP 13048). My copy of Ed Cray's The Erotic Muse (Pyramid, New York, 1972) has a long discussion of "I Used to Work in Chicago" and its relatives, including Argo's "Haben Aboo an' a Banner," with a fragment of Argo's text, on pp. 208-211.
The LOCSinging broadside is an entirely cleaned up version but its "When I was a 'prentice in London" verses and lack of verses about a wife make it this song rather than "The Cobbler." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71446

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