Little Old Dudeen

DESCRIPTION: If not for Walter Raleigh "I wouldn't be smoking my old dudeen." The singer smokes to keep peace when his wife grumbles. At his wake there'll be poteen but "into me gob, so help me bob, you'll find me old dudeen"
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David or John Braham (but see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (MUNFLA/Leach; Peacock); reportedly written 1875
KEYWORDS: nonballad funeral
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1554-1618 - Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, credited in the song with bringing tobacco to Europe (in fact it was first introduced to Europe by Columbus, and cultivated in Iberia; the first American tobacco plantation was founded by John Rolfe)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 377-378, "My Old Dudeen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea337 (Partial)
Roud #9787
RECORDINGS:
Mike Kent, "My Old Dudeen" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]; "My Old Dudeen" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
NOTES [236 words]: Library of Congress American Memory 19th century song sheets collection as "Little Old Dudeen": Words Ed Harrigan, Music John Braham, pub Boston 1875.
Harrigan and Hart famous vaudeville team per The Big Bands Database Plus site entry for David Braham.
See The Black Dudeen by Robert Service for one [use of the] phrase "tucked in me gub, me old dudeen." - BS
The LOC credit is a little sloppy; Harrigan's usual partner DAVID Braham, not John. And this song is not found in the comprehensive catalog of Harrigan and Braham songs published by Jon W. Finson and indexed as Finson-Edward-Harrigan-David-Braham. I wonder if it's a Harrigan song with a tune by someone other than Braham, since Harrigan and Braham were not entirely regular partners until slightly later.
Nonetheless Harrigan would know the word "dudeen" better than most; his father had lived in Newfoundland, and "dudeen" as a word for a short-stemmed pipe is well-attested there and can be traced back to at least 1836 (G. M. Story, W. J. Kirwin, and J. D. A. Widdowson, editors, Dictionary of Newfoundland English, second edition with supplement, Breakwater Press, 1990, p. 158). Since Robert W. Service was not born until 1874, and Harrigan was effectively done as a writer by the mid-1890s, the use by Service could well have been derived from Harrigan.
For background on Harrigan, Hart, and Braham, see the notes to "The Babies on Our Block." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: Pea337

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