Saturday 8 November 2008

Isn't it a nobby one?


Where did you get that hat?
Where did you get that tile?
Isn't it a nobby one
And just the proper style?
I should like to have one
Just the same as that
Wherever I go they'd shout "Hello!
Where did you get that hat?"

Joseph J Sullivan had been a blackface comedian and acrobatic singer (?) who introduced this song at Miners Eighth Avenue Theatre in New York in 1888. It became an immediate hit and the title became a slang catch phrase; the song then crossed the Atlantic to make its mark on the British music hall. The words above are the amended ones written later by James Rolmaz and sung by J G Heffron.

You can get the tune as a ringtone, but never let it ring in Saint Peter's.

3 comments:

emfink said...

Any idea what the original words were? In any event, it is easy to see why this little song caught on.

Anonymous said...

No, sorry, Eric, I haven't.

Anonymous said...

Never mind about the song, the hat is stunning! If only Jesus of Nazareth could have seen it, how impressed he would have been!