Row-Dow-Dow

DESCRIPTION: Singer, Clarkie, and two others go out poaching pheasants; keepers arrive, and the singer and Clarkie are captured. They are taken to Wandsworth Gaol. Released on Christmas eve, he has a drink and rejoices, but Clarkie doesn't get out until mid-January
AUTHOR: Words: Possibly Fred Holman
EARLIEST DATE: 1956 (recorded from George Maynard); tune is older
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, his friend Clarkie and two others go out poaching pheasants; keepers arrive, the two other men leave, and the singer and Clarkie are captured and charged before the magistrate. Convicted, he asks to be fined but is sentenced to six weeks; his friend gets two months. They are taken to Wandsworth Gaol; he sneaks his tobacco in past the guards. He is put to work pumping water and grinding flour. Released on Christmas eve, he has a drink and rejoices, but Clarkie doesn't get out until mid-January
KEYWORDS: captivity fight poaching prison punishment trial freedom hunting drink friend prisoner
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 354, "Row-Dow-Dow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, "Row Dow Dow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ROWDOWDW
Roud #902
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Shooting Goshen's Cocks Up" (on Maynard1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bow Wow Wow" (tune) and references there
NOTES [96 words]: According to Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland, Goshen was either a local placename or the owner of a game preserve. The tune, variously known as "The Barking Barber" or "Bow Wow Wow," is said to date from the time of George II; Chappell published it in 1858. - PJS
Palmer reports that Fred Holman wrote the words to this after poaching on the lands of C. H. Goschen in the years preceding World War I, and later sold copies of the text in exchange for a pint of beer. I do not know if this has ever been verified, or if anyone has seen one of these handwritten copies. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.7
File: K354

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