“Does Your Mother Know You're Out?”
Description
"Does your mother know you're out? (x2), How are you, Horace Greeley? Does your mother know you're out?" "Mother, is the battle over? What are the men about? How are you, Horace Greeley? Does your mother know you're out?"
Notes
The editors of Brown speculate that this is from Horace Greeley's 1872 presidential run. Greeley lost decisively to Ulysses S. Grant, then died, and his electoral votes went to the four winds.
William A. DeGregorio, _The Complete Book of U. S. Presidents_ (1993 edition, Barricade Books, p. 267) quotes Eugene H. Rosebloom as saying "Never in American history have two more unfit men been offered to the country for the highest office." Greeley's biggest single issue was probably the corruption that had occurred under Grant (who had no political background at all and was unable to control his underlings; indeed, the Republicans booted his 1868 vice president off the 1872 ticket because he was associated with corruption). But Greeley had no background in politics either.
J. G. Randall's _The Civil War and Reconstruction_ (second edition by David Donald, Heath, 1961), p. 15, described Greeley this way: "Animate by enthusiasms that tended toward fanaticism, and marred by personal eccentricities that laid him open to ridicule, this Yankee printer had risen from stark poverty to influence and power; and, as a supporter of the Whig and later the Republican party, had demonstrated in areas widely distant from his sanctum the tremendous force of political journalism. With defects of character that were to grow with the years, he showed the finer idealism of his ardent nature in efforts to improve the workingman's lot, in generous support of movements for popular education, and in championship of progressive social movements generally."
He was, of course, the editor of the _New York Tribune_, which he founded in 1841, and, yes, he did write, "Go west, young man" (see his entry in the _Dictionary of American Biography_).
Samuel Elliot Morison, _The Oxford History of the American People_, Oxford University Press, 1965, p. 730, says of his 1872 run for the Presidency, "As a 'headliner,' Horace Greeley could not have been bettered. In his thirty years' editorship of the New York _Tribune_ he had built it up to be the country's leading newspaper, whose articles and editorials were quoted nationwide. His personal integrity and moral earnestness were unquestioned. But he was also something of a crackpot... and at one time or another he had espoused unpopular causes such as socialism, temperance, spiritism, and women's rights. Greeley made a strong speaking campaign, but the Republicans had the money and the organization, and the average citizen, having to choose between an old soldier whose very name stood for patriotism, and a journalist who had been as often wrong as right, voted for Grant. The President carried all but six states with a popular vote of 3.6 million as against 2.8 million for his opponent."
It's likely enough that this song comes from the 1872 campaign -- described as exceptionally bitter, and also quite strange, as Greeley was endorsed by the independent (generally radical) Republicans *and* by the Democrats. The pressure was so extreme that Greeley, after his defeat, his wife's death, and his discovery of a sort of palace coup at the _Tribune_, went insane shortly before his death.
On the other hand, Greeley during the Civil War was quite strident and also rather unstable; one can imagine someone at the time taunting him, "Does your mother know you're out?"
Or it could be two mixed-up songs. It rather looks that way to me.
According to Eric Partridge's _A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English_ (combined fifth edition with dictionary and supplement, Macmillan, 1961), entry on "Mother know you're out" notes that the question itself is used at least as early as 1838, in Bentley's _Miscellany_. It was "addressed to a person showing extreme simplicity or youthful presumption." - RBW
Historical references
- 1872 - Horace Greeley's presidential campaign
Cross references
- cf. "Mother, Is the Battle Over?" (floating lyrics)
References
- BrownIII 398, "Does Your Mother Know You're Out?" (1 text)
- Roud #11756
- BI, Br3398