/ · John S. Farmer’s Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes
The Dashy, Splashy.... Little Stringer
The Dashy, Splashy.... Little Stringer
1841
By LEMAN REDE, being Kit’s Song in Sixteen-String Jack.
I
A cloudy night, and pretty hard it blow’d,
The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer,
1 spirited horse
Mounted his roan, and took the road—
Phililoo!
“My Lord Cashall’s on the road to-night,
Down with the lads, make my lord alight—
Ran dan row de dow, on we go!”
Chorus.—Ran, dan, etc.
II
“You horrid wretch,” said my Lord to Rann—
The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer—
“How dare you rob a gentleman?”
Phililoo!
Says Jack, says he, with his knowing phiz,
2 wink
“I ain’t very pertic’lar who it is!
Ran dan row de dow, on we go!”
Chorus.—Ran, dan, etc.
III
Ve collar’d the blunt, started off for town,
3 money
With the dashy, splashy, leary little stringer,
Horses knock’d up, men knock’d down—
Phililoo!
A lady’s carriage we next espied,
I collar’d the blunt, Jack jumped inside,
Ran dan row de dow, on we go!
Chorus.—Ran, dan, etc.
IV
Jack took off his hat, with a jaunty air—
The dashy, splashy, leary little stringer—
And he kiss’d the lips of the lady fair—
Phililoo!
She sigh’d a sigh, and her looks said plain,
I don’t care much if I’m robb’d again!
Ran dan row de dow, on we go!
Chorus.—Ran, dan, etc.
Notes
Leman Rede (1802-47) an author of numerous successful dramatic pieces,
and a contributor to the weekly and monthly journals of the day,
chiefly to the New Monthly and Bentley’s. He was born in
Hamburgh, his father a barrister.
Some of the best parts ever played by Liston, John Reeve, Charles
Mathews, Keeley, and G. Wild were written by him.
Taken from
Musa Pedestris,
Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes
[1536―1896], collected and annotated by John S. Farmer.
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