> Folk Music > Songs > Every Morning

Every Morning / Me Old Game Cock

[ Roud 10733 ; Ballad Index Hows111 ; Mudcat 527 ; Wynn Stanley, Andrew Allen]

Every Morning (Cock-a-doodle-do) is a music hall song written by Wynn Stanley and Andrew Allen. It was first published in 1921 and was sung by Florrie Forde.

Gordon Woods from Framsden, Suffolk, sang Every Morning in a recording made by John Howson that was released in 1991 on the Veteran Tapes cassette of more comic songs and parodies, Songs Sung in Suffolk Vol. 6. John Howson noted:

The original of this song was written and composed by [Wynn] Stanley and Andrew Allen and was published by Lawrence Wright in 1921, when it was sung by Florrie Forde. It occurs in several traditional singers’ repertoires including Dartmoor’s Charlie Hill.

Tom and Barbara Brown sang Me Old Game Cock on their 2007 WildGoose album West Country Night Out. They noted:

There arc a great many songs that, despite the fact that they apparently make the countryman look foolish or naive, were exceedingly popular amongst country singers. We were spoilt for choice on this CD, but selected this one not least because most of the others arc exclusively men’s songs. Barbara first learnt the song from Jim Stephens of Chulmleigh.

Lyrics

Gordon Woods sings Every Morning

Now I always used to over-sleep myself each morn.
Never got up early since the day I was born.
Until one day I struck a fine idea,
I went ihto the market, and it does sound queer:
I bought a little rooster, the sort that doesn’t lay,
And now every morning you will hear him say:

Chorus (after each verse):
Every morning, every morning,
I never over-sleep, ’tis true.
Idont need a knocker up,
I don’t need a clock,
For underneath the bed I pop the old game-cock.
And every morning everything is quite alright.
For out I go when the cock begins to crow,
With a cock, cock, cock-a-doodle-do.

Now I thought my rooster led a lonely life,
So I went and bought a hen bird,
And I made them man and wife,
Now every night upon the bathing pot,
Sleeps upon the water-bottle nice and hot.
And every morning there’s my breakfast.
Oh, when I show a leg,
On the water bottle there’s a nice poached egg.

Now all you maidens that have just got wed,
If you’ve got a husband that you can’t get out of bed,
Take my tip and you’ll all rejoice:
Go and buy a rooster with a tenor voice,
And when he starts his love song,
He’ll get out quick, I bet!
So learn this little chorus ’ere you should forget:

Tom and Barbara Brown sing Me Old Game Cock

I used to oversleep meself each morn,
I never got up early since the day that I was born,
Then last week I had a bright idea;
I went to Molton market just to make it clear;
I bought a big red rooster, the sort that doesn’t lay,
’Cos then I thought that he could wake me up each day.

Chorus (after each verse):
Every morning, every morning, everything is quite alright,
I don’t need a knocker-up and I don’t need a clock,
For underneath me bed I keep my old game cock;
Every morning, every morning I never oversleeps, ’tis true,
For out I go when the cock begins to crow,
Cock cock cock-a-doodle doo.

Now I thought this rooster led a lonely life,
So I went and bought a hen for him and made them man and wife;
Each night she sleeps in the baby’s cot,
She sits on the water bottle, nice and hot,
So now I gets me breakfast when I get out of bed,
’Cos on the water bottle is a nice boiled egg.

So all you maidens that have just got wed,
If you’ve got a husband that you can’t get out of bed,
Take my tip and you will all rejoice,
Just get a good old rooster with a tenor voice,
And when he hears his love song, he’ll get out quick, you bet,
So join me in this chorus and you won’t forget.