Tailor Fell Through the Bed, The

DESCRIPTION: [C:] Dreaming of caulking his cloth, [O:] "the tailor fell through the bed, thimbles and a'." [B:] The lassie "kend that a tailor could do her nae ill." [O:] She asks for silver. [B:] She's lying alone and would be happy to see him again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825 (Cunningham)
KEYWORDS: sex money humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1843, "The Tailor Fell Through the Bed" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Allan Cunningham, The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern, (London, 1825 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol II, pp. 335-336, "The Tailor"
Charles Kent, editor, The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, (London, 1885 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 273, "The Tailor"
ADDITIONAL: James Johnson, Editor, _The Scots Musical Museum_ [1853 edition], volume III, #212, p. 221, "The Taylor fell thro' the bed, &c." (1 text, 1 tune)
ST GrD81843 (Partial)
Roud #13597
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock Robb" (tune, per Greig/Duncan8)
cf. "The Campbells Are Coming" (tune, per Greig/Duncan8)
cf. "Beware o' the Ripells" (tune, per Burns)
cf. "The March of the Corporation of Tailors" (tune, per Cunningham and Kent)
NOTES [152 words]: Greig/Duncan8 is a fragment included as the first verse of both Kent and Cunningham. Kent says that Burns "claimed the authorship of no more than the second and fourth stanzas, the others having been produced traditionally by a humorous songwriter, whose name has been long forgotten." Cunningham, a questionable source [see, for example, notes to "The Grey Cock" and "Derwentwater"], has this to say: "This air is the march of the corporation of tailors. Some of the song is very old; some of it is by Burns; some of it has been added since his day: and still the song is not such a production as the air deserves. I know not what induced our ancient bards to speak so scornfully as they have often done of the art and mystery of shaping and sewing men's garments and shoes." Taking Kent as a guide, Cunningham's five verses include both "old" verses [O:], both of Burns's [B:], and one "added since" [C:]. - BS
Last updated in version 3.0
File: GrD81843

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