Just Tread on the Tail of Me Coat

DESCRIPTION: The singer went to school to learn reading, writing -- and fighting. "I've licked all the Murphys an' Finnegans, And all the McCarthys afloat, If you're wanting a fight and a fraction, Just tread on the tail of me coat." He uses his fist to regain love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1860 (Dime-Song-Book #5)
KEYWORDS: fight clothes love rejection
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) Canada
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 474, "Just Tread on the Tail of Me Coat" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 108, pp. 136-138, "Mush, Mush, Mush" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vikár/Panagapka-SongsNorthWoodsSungByOJAbbott 3, "Tread on the Tail of Me Coat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, pp. 78-79, "The Tail iv Me Coat" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #5/72, p. 56 and #5/64, p. 56, "The Tail iv Me Coat" (1 text)
Roud #4879
RECORDINGS:
John A. McLellan, "Mush Mush" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yip Yip Yip Tooraliaddy" (tune)
NOTES [48 words]: The 3/4 tune given by Randolph is quite close to (the verse of) "Rosin the Beau," leading me to initially suspect that it was a parody of that song. O. J. Abbott's tune was also in triple time. But Stout-FolkloreFromIowa's tune is in 4/4, so my speculation appears to have been wrong. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: R474

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