“The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away”
Description
The singer, drunk, walks down the street "in tipsy pride" and falls down in the gutter A pig lies down beside him. A high-toned lady remarks that "you can tell a man who boozes By the company he chooses," and "the pig got up and slowly walked away"
Notes
Judging by the results of a cursory Google study, this bit is passing into oral tradition fairly quickly. - PJS
There are quite a few questions about it. Paul credited it to Benjamin Hapgood Burt, with a 1933 copyright -- yet Hazel Felleman's _Best Loved Poems of the American People_, published 1936, lists no author. There are four citations, including Felleman's, in _Granger's Index to Poetry_ (where it is titled "Judged by the Company One Keeps"), none of which mentions Burt; one attributes it to Aimor R. Dickson. My guess is that Burt rewrote an older piece. But it certainly seems to be traditional. - RBW
Recordings
- Frank Crumit, "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" (Decca 313, 1934)
- Rudy Vallee, "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" (Victor 25092, 1935)
References
- Shellans, pp. 58-59, "Friendship with a Hog" (1 text, 1 tune; the first two verses from this song but the last three might be informant John Daniel Vass's expansions of the piece)
- DT, PIGINEBR PIGINEB2 PIGENEB3
- Roud #7322
- BI, RcPGUSWA