Fellow that Looks Like Me, The [Laws H21]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is stopped and made to pay a bill he never incurred, then beaten up for wronging a girl he does not know, and finally arrested and convicted for a crime he didn't commit. Only when the police find "the fellow that looks like me" is he freed
AUTHOR: J. F. Poole
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: humorous reprieve courting infidelity accusation trial police prisoner
FOUND IN: US(Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Laws H21, "The Fellow that Looks Like Me"
Randolph 463, "The Fellow that Looks Like Me" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #175, "The Fellow that Looks Like Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 145, "The Fellow That Looks Like Me" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #623, p. 41, "The Fellow That Looks LIke Me" (1 reference)
New-Comic-Songster, pp. 38-39, "The Fellow That Looks Like Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #23, pp. 40-41, "The Fellar that Looks Like Me" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, p. 479, "The Fellow That Looks Like Me" (source notes only)
DT 707, LOOKSME
Roud #2187
RECORDINGS:
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "The Feller That Looks Like Me" (Brunswick 184, 1927)
Asa Martin, "The Fellow That Looks Like Me" (Supertone 9642, 1930)
Charlie Newman, "The Fellow That's Just Like Me" (OKeh 45116, 1927)
Cyril O'Brien, "The Fellow That Looked Like Me" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Looking Like My Brother" [Laws H21] (theme of a man who gets in trouble for his double's acts)
NOTES [59 words]: This was apparently popular enough that Walter Kittredge, the author of "Tenting Tonight," wrote a song "So Much Resembles Me" about two men who were always being mistaken for each other. Kittredge published it in his "Original Song Book" in 1882. The title fits the song; the plots of the two are about the same. Originality was not Kittredge's forte. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: LH21
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography
The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.