SHE WAS ONE OF THE EARLY BIRDS
(T. W. Conner)


George Beauchamp - 1895





It was at the Pantomime
Sweet Mable and I did meet
She was in the ballet, front row
And I in a five shilling seat
She was dressed like a dicky bird
Beautiful wings she had on
Figure divine, wished she were mine
On her I was totally gone

She was a dear little dicky bird
Cheep-cheep-cheep! she went
Sweetly she sang to me
Till all my money was spent
Then she went off song
We parted on fighting terms
She was one of the early birds
And I was one of the worms

At the stage door ev'ry night
I waited with my bouquet
Till my bird had moulted, and then
We'd drive in a hansom away
Oyster suppers and sparkling 'Cham'
Couldn't she go it! What ho!
Fivers I spent, tenners I lent
For to her I couldn't say "No"

She was a dear little dicky bird
Cheep-cheep-cheep! she went
Sweetly she sang to me
Till all my money was spent
Then she went off song
We parted on fighting terms
She was one of the early birds
And I was one of the worms

Eelskin coats and diamond rings
Knocked holes in my purse alone
She would have 'em and in the end
I got hers by pawning my own
When at last I was fairly broke
'Twixt us a quarrel arose
Mabel the fair pulled out my hair
And clawed all the skin off my nose

She was a dear little dicky bird
Cheep-cheep-cheep! she went
Sweetly she sang to me
Till all my money was spent
Then she went off song
We parted on fighting terms
She was one of the early birds
And I was one of the worms

Full of love and poverty
And armed with a carving knife
One dark night I knelt in the mud
And asked if she'd be my wife
Something struck me behind the ear
Someone said, 'Now, go and get
A wife of your own, leave mine alone!"
And that was the last time we met

She was a dear little dicky bird
Cheep-cheep-cheep! she went
Sweetly she sang to me
Till all my money was spent
Then she went off song
We parted on fighting terms
She was one of the early birds
And I was one of the worms






(Contributed by Mel Priddle - December 2012)