Patches on My Pants, The

DESCRIPTION: "Of all the years since I began To mix in politics, The one that tries my inner man Is Eighteen Ninety Six... And count them all from hip to heel, The patches on my pants." He first put them on in 1888, when he voted for Harrison; now he regrets it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Nevada Folklore pamphlet; probably written in the 1890s)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad clothes hardtimes
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1888 - Benjamin Harrison elected President by the Electoral College even though Grover Cleveland won the popular vote
1892 - Cleveland wins the rematch with Harrison
1896 - William McKinley elected President for the first time, defeating William Jennings Bryan
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Welsch-NebraskaPioneerLore, pp. 76-77, "The Patches on My Pants" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Nebraska Folklore, Pamphlet Eighteen, "Farmers' Alliance Songs of the 1890's," Federal Writers' Project, 1938, p. 17, "The Patches on My Pants" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Auld Lang Syne" (tune)
cf. "Free Silver" (subject of William Jennings Bryan and the 1896 election) and references there
NOTES [13 words]: For more on the issues of the 1896 presidential election, see "Free Silver." - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: Wels078A

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