Old Boss Barry

DESCRIPTION: "There's a quiet little room at the back of the saloon... Where men from tenements hold lengthy arguments On everything besides the liquor bills." Then the "leader" comes,; they say, "Old Boss Barry, how d'ye do? Is there anything that we can do for you?"
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David Braham
EARLIEST DATE: 1888 ("Waddy Googan")
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Finson-Edward-Harrigan-David-Braham, vol. II, #148, pp. 226-227 "Old Boss Barry" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: William H. A. Williams, _'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream_, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 142, "Old Boss Barry" (1 excerpt)
Roud #V45198
RECORDINGS:
Mick Moloney, "Old Boss Barry" (on HarriganBrahamMaloney)
NOTES [188 words]: For background on Harrigan and Braham, see the notes to "The Babies on Our Block."
"'Old Boss Barry' recalls Braham's patter parlando style, with repeated note-melody and schottische rhythms accompanying Harrigan's trenchant satire of Tammany-style politics" (Franceschina, p. 189).
Harrigan apparently did not hesitate to satirize Boss Tweed (Williams, p. 142), and "Harrigan provided one of the best portraits in song of the Irish political boss in 'Old Boss Barry' from Waddy Gogan (1988)" (Williams, p. 143).
An excellent portrayal of a city boss it may have been, and it featured Harrigan flipping from playing an Irishman to playing an Italian with great verve (Moody, pp. 181-182), but as a show it had a relatively short run -- apparently less than three months (Franceschina, p. 189).
There is a camp song, "Howdy Do," which runs
Howdy do, Mister Speaker, Howdy do?
Howdy do, Is there anything that we can do for you, do for you?
We'll do everything we can,
We are with you to a man,
Howdy do, Mister Speaker, Howdy do!"
Is there some sort of mixture going on? I don't know. The song is indexed as "How Do You Do?" - RBW
Bibliography

Franceschina: John Franceschina, David Braham: The American Offenbach, Routledge, 2003
Moody: Richard Moody, Ned Harrigan: From Corlear's Hook to Herald Square, Nelson Hall, 1980
Williams: William H. A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, University of Illinois Press, 1996

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