Wilmot MacDonald - The Little Bull Song

Lyrics as transcribed from this recording:

Oh, once I was a rover to London I did go,
My people being very poor, my fortune to pursue,
I was sitting on the table and my feet was hanging down,
I jumped right over London bridge and I never hit the ground.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

One day as I was going out to view a field of wheat,
I bold-lye stepped up to it, for to take a nap of sleep,
when this big giant stepped up to me his head would reach the sky,
I boldly stepped right up to him and I bid him to pass by.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

I challenged him to wrestle to bald-faced[?] fight or run,
I played him out in all things, killed him when I was done,
where people all admired me, thanked me for what I have done,
and they give me little trifle of gold and silver, about five thousand tons.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

It s then I got a little box, about four acres square,
to treasure of my gold and silver, my guineas they lie there,
and every evening I go out to take a quiet walk,
its in my britches pockets where I carry that little box.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

Its then I got a little bull, about four hands high,
the people all admired him when they heard this little bull cry,
for when this bull began to roar he made such a terrible sound,
he caused the steeple of St. Paul s church to come tumbling to the ground.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

Its then I got a flock of sheep the half of them was wethers,
sometimes they bring me very good wool more times they bring me feathers,
for these were the best flock of sheep this world could increase,
for every six or eight weeks past brought me nine lambs a-piece.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.

Its then I got a little dove about four hands high,
the people all had... no, I m wrong.
Then I got a little hen of it did took great care,
I sit it on the mussel box and she brought me out a hare,
this hare turned into a finer colt that ever you did see,
and if anybody told a better story than that he told a damn big lie.

with my whack full a ha dee,
who waite fall air fall turah,
a hulla loor I ay.
This song is sung a cappella. The singer laughs usually at least once per stanza and stomps his foot occasionally. When beginning the last verse McDonald stops and says no, I m wrong and then begins again.

This song appears elsewhere in the Manny collection as (039-02). Manny s note tells us that Wilmot learned the song from Earl Astles of Grey Rapids. The chorus consists mostly of vocables.

Ives and Manny s published version (both transcriptions also of performances by Wilmot McDonald) are very similar to the above transcription. McDonald includes other spoken lines in the other versions (like "you know what a wether is"? ).

1959

## Sources

Versions of this song appear in Louise Manny and James Reginald Wilson eds. Songs of Miramichi Brunswick Press Fredericton, N.B. pg. 258 and in Edward Ives ed. Folksongs of New Brunswick Goose Lane Editions Ltd., Fredericton pg. 103.

014-01

Known by a variety of names (The Lying Song, When I was a little boy, etc), this is a rather old song that has been found across the USA, eastern Canada, England, and Scotland. See here for more info http://www.vwml.org/roudnumber/1706#record=23