The multi-talented May Irwin composed this song in 1907, and it is one of the more delightful songs of that time - thoroughly entertaining as well as being true-to-life. Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan do it justice on this Columbia cylinder recording
from that year. This particular copy was an "Oxford Indestructible" version (marketed through Sears and Roebuck) and it has been through floods and heat - the cardboard core is ruined, and the surface no longer runs true - but it still plays(!). There
is a pronounced "flutter" as the cartridge navigates the grooves, but the quality of the song and the performance outweigh that consideration, so it is presented here as clean as is possible under the circumstances. (More about May Irwin can be found at
the Virtual Gramophone of Canada.)
