“The Cobbler”

Description

The singer, cobbler (Dick Hobson), comes from a questionable family and leads a questionable life. The song may end with an account of how he became free of his "lumpy" wife: I dipped her three times in the river / and carelessly bade her goodnight"

Notes

Chappell/Wooldridge report "The words of this song have not been recovered; but there can be little doubt that they were a political satire upon Colonel Hewson, who was one of Charles I's judges, and of those who signed his death-warrant.

"John Hewson was originally a cobbler, and had but one eye. He took up arms on the side of the parliament.... He was knighted by Cromwell, and afterwards made one of his Lords. He quitted England immediately before the Restoration, and died at Amsterdam in 1662."

The above may be taken with as many grains of salt as you desire.

This clearly circulated in both clean and dirty versions, and all shades in between (e.g. in the Flanders/Olney version, the third line reads, "They call me an old fornicator," but the rest is clean).

For one of the more extreme versions, see "Haben a Boo and a Banner" (DT DICKDAR3) - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "My God, How the Money Rolls In"

Recordings

• Lawrence Older, "Jed Hobson" (on LOlder01)
• Wickets Richardson & chorus, "Fagan the Cobbler" (on FSB3)

References

1. Randolph 102, "Dick German the Cobbler" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
2. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 133-135, "Dick German the Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 102A)
3. Randolph-Legman I, ppp. 516-517, "Dick Darlin' the Cobbler" (2 texts, 1 tune)
4. Flanders/Olney, pp. 176-177, "Hobson, the Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. Gardner/Chickering 180, "Rusty Old Rover" (1 fragment, probably this piece); also 181, "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England" (2 short texts, 2 tunes, both very mixed; "A" has the first verse of "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England,"; the second is "Me father is a hedger and ditcher, and the third and the chorus are from "The Cobbler"; the "B" text is also clearly mixed though the elements are less clear)
6. Kennedy 222, "Fagan the Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune)
7. Cray, pp. 111-113, "(My Name Is) Dick Darby, the Cobbler" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
8. MacSeegTrav 42, "My Faither Was Hung for Sheep-Stealing" (1 text, 1 tune)
9. Gilbert, pp. 78-79, "Dick Darlin'" (1 text)
10. Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 163-164, "Old Hewson the Cobbler" (1 tune with no text, but presumably a version of this)
11. DT, DICKDARB* DICKDAR2 DICKDAR3
12. Roud #872
13. BI, R102