"Villikins and his Dinah" (Laws M31A/B, Roud 271) is a stage song which emerged in England in 1853 as a burlesque version of a traditional ballad called "William and Dinah." Its great popularity led to the tune being later adopted for many other songs, "The Villikins melody ... is the most used 'come-all-ye' in Anglo-American balladry." such as "Sweet Betsy from Pike."
Background
"VillikinsAlso occasionally spelled Villikens, Willikins, etc. and his Dinah" is based on "William and Dinah",In the earliest extant version of the ballad the lovers are "William and Diana": http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/view/edition/19624 a folk ballad extant from at least the early 19th century,At least between 1819 and 1844, and possibly earlier which was still being sung and collected in the early 20th.A full version collected in Wiltshire in 1906 contains more lines than the broadside ballads dating from eighty years earlier. The theme of the ballad is the traditional one of lovers parted by parental interference who then commit suicide and are buried in one grave.
"Villikins and his Dinah" was a parody of this. It became a major hit in 1853 when sung by actor Frederick RobsonRobson, who played the title-role of a London street singer called Jem Baggs, was famous for his ability to blend intense emotion with farcical humour:'He may almost have been said to have brought pathos and drollery into association closer than had ever been witnessed on the stage.' Joseph Knight, ‘Robson, (Thomas) Frederick (1821–1864)’, rev. Paul Ranger, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 at London's Olympic Theatre The Times, 23 May 1853, p. 4: ‘ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.- ...With THE WANDERING MINSTREL. Sam Bags (sic), with the ballad of “Villikins and his Dinah,” Mr. Robson.’ in a revived one-act farce, The Wandering Minstrel.By Henry Mayhew, first published in 1834. A Cockney street-singer, Jem Baggs, is mistaken for a nobleman passing himself off as a vagabond for a bet. The farce climaxes with a musical contest between him and a talented gentleman-amateur, which Baggs loses. In post-1853 versions, he loses by singing his version of "Villikins and his Dinah".Robson had sung Villikins previously in February 1853 in Dublin, and possibly earlier at the Grecian, London. The comic version follows the traditional ballad closely but exaggerates its naivety and subverts its paths by telling the lovers' story in urban slang.
Burlesques of serious works were in great vogue on the London stage then, and the tragi-comic song became a sensation.‘"Vilikins and his Dinah" created a furore. My countrymen are always going mad about something; and Englishmen and Englishwomen all agreed to go crazy about "Vilikins." “Right tooral lol looral” was on every lip.’ The song was published in London by music sellers Campbell, Ransford, and Co. on 11 November 1853 and quickly followed by other editions with variants of words or music.Mollie Sands, 'Robson of the Olympic', The Society for Theatre Research, 1979: p. 144 Other theatres cashed in on the song's huge success by staging productions based on it - a farce, Villikins, and his Dinah opened at the Surrey theatre in February 1854, and a travesty by E.L.Blanchard and Sterling Coyne ran for two and a half months at the Haymarket. Its popularity grew when it was adopted by the Anglo-American entertainer Sam Cowell, who took it into a broader range of venues.The Times, 15 July 1854, p. 9: (From a review of entertainments at the Vauxhall Gardens):'Some songs belonging to the “fast” school were given...by...Messrs. S. Cowell and J. W. Sharp. Among these we remarked a caricature of Mr. Robson’s famous romance, “Willikins and his Dinah,” which, being itself an inimitable caricature, betokened a singular talent for exaggeration on the part of the gentleman who went so very far beyond it. Mr. Sharp’s capital effort was a ballad of conundrums...' From the theatres, it made its way to music halls and saloon bars, and by 1855, it was among the most popular songs of the day, played repeatedly on barrel organs in the streets.‘POPULAR AIRS. The hundreds of “weasels” on the barrel organs have “popped” so often that at last, thank goodness, they are popping off one by one. Nearly all the “Villikins” too are quietly laid beside their “Dinahs”..’ Notes and Queries, Vol. 12 (306), 8 September 1855, p.183 By then, the song had spread to AustraliaGeorge Stelth Coppin played in The Wandering Minstrel, 1854 and North America.New York Times,13 July 1855: a journalist describes a newsboy making extra profits by selling the song sheet of "Vilikins and his Dinah" alongside his usual papers.
Melody
Musically, variations of the "Villikins and his Dinah" tune can be identified by the characteristics of their first few measures. They begin with an introductory tonic, which rises into an outline of the tonic's major triad and ends by repeating the fifth.
Although the tune of "Villikins" has been said to have given rise to more borrowings, imitations, and re-uses than almost any other in Anglo-American folk music,List of songs derived its origins are unclear. It may be the traditional melody to which "William and Dinah" were usually sung or a derivation, or it may have been specially composed for Robson's stage performance in 1853. In America, it was sometimes attributed to 'John Parry,' presumably either John Parry or his son John Orlando Parry.Classical music webAn imprint of the song printed in Boston, now in the Lester S. Levy collection, refers to the composer as 'John Parry'. The imprint is undated but probably c. 1850s An early edition of "Villikins and his Dinah" published in Scotland in May 1854 gives the air it should be sung to as "They Died As They Lived."Ballads online: Ballads Catalogue: Firth b.27(61)
In 1853, Robson entered a contract with a music publisherCampbell, Ranford and Co. to whom he assigned sole rights to the lyrics and music; however, although the company threatened legal actionThe Times, 6 February 1854, p. 4: '...Publishers and vendors are hereby cautioned that C., R., and Co., having obtained from Mr. F. Robson the sole right of publishing his edition, they will immediately enter into legal proceedings against any one infringing their copyright...' against anyone infringing their copyright, both the tune and words were rapidly circulating in numerous editions.
Lyrics
The lyrics are said to have been written by playwright E. L. Blanchard.Joseph Knight, 'Robson, (Thomas) Frederick (1821–1864)', rev. Paul Ranger, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 A comparison with "William and Dinah" shows that they are adapted mainly from the traditional,'The words and the air of “Vilikins” were, if not literally as old as the hills, considerably older than the age of Queen Elizabeth.' but Robson performed the song with a series of comments and asides.In a second edition of The Wandering Minstrel published by Thomas Hailes Lacy c. 1855, in addition to the interspersed comic patter the song is lengthened by three extra verses.
Although "Villikins and his Dinah" kept many of the original lyrics of "William and Dinah," it parodied its conventional phrasing and generally exploited its naivety for comic effect. It also put the words into the Cockney dialect, a lower-class London form of speech. In Cockney, the letter 'w' was pronounced as a 'v':'The pronunciation of v for w, and more frequently of w for v, among the inhabitants of London...is a blemish of the first magnitude.' John Walker. A critical pronouncing dictionary and expositor of the English language... London, 1806. 4th ed. the name 'William' therefore would become 'Villiam,' and for added bathos, the diminutive 'Villikins' ('Willikins') is used. The new lyrics emphasised other characteristics of uneducated speech such as double negatives, mispronunciations and malapropisms.
Other changes to the traditional lyrics included increasing the heroine's age from fourteen to sixteen, dropping the reference to her father as a 'liquor' merchant, and replacing the abusive phrase 'boldest strumpet' with 'boldest daughter'. An added final 'moral' verse inverts the sympathies of the original by warning girls not to defy their fathers, and young men to be cautious when falling in love. "William and Dinah" (c.1819?)
It's of a liquor Merchant in London did dwell He had but one child, a most beautiful girl. Her name it was Dinah, scarce fourteen years old She had a large portion in silver and gold
Besides a large portion when her mother did die Which made many a sweetheart to love and draw nigh. As Dinah was walking in the garden one day Her father came to her and this he did say
Go Dinah and dress yourself in costly array For I've met with a young man both gallant and gay I've met with a man worth ten thousand a year He says he will make you his bride and his dear,
O honoured father, I am but a child And to marry so early I ne'er can abide, O honoured dear father, I would freely give o'er If you'd let me live single for three years or more.
Go, boldest strumpet, the father then replied. Since you have denied me to be this man's bride I'll give away thy portion to some heir of thy kin You ne'er shall reap the benefit of one single pin.
Dinah wrote her love a letter with all haste and speed And told her sweet William what her father had said, Farewell my sweet William, for ever farewell How dearly I loved you there is no tongue can tell
As William was walking the groves all around He found his dear Dinah lay dead on the ground With a cup of strong poison and a note lying by her side 'Twas my cruel father caused my death so nigh.'
He kissed her cold lips as she lay on the floor And he called her his jewel ten thousand times o'er, Then he drank up the poison like a lover so brave, There's William and Dinah lie both in one grave."Villikins and his Dinah" (1854)
'Tis of a rich merchant who in London did dwell, He had but one daughter, an unkimmon (uncommon) nice young gal(girl); Her name it was Dinah, scarce sixteen years old, With a very large fortune in silver & gold.
As Dinah was valiking (walking) the garding (garden) one day Her papa he came to her, and thus did he say, Go dress yourself Dinah, in gorgeous array And take yourself a husiband both gallant and gay.
Oh, papa, Oh, papa, I've not made up my mind, And to marry just yet, why I don't feel inclined, To you my large fortune I'll gladly give o'er, If you let me live single a year or two more.
Go go, boldest daughter the parent replied; If you won't consent to be this here young man's bride, I'll give your large fortune to the nearest of kin, And you sha'n't reap the benefit of one single pin.
As Vilikins was valking the garden around He espied his dear Dinah laying dead upon the ground. And the cup of cold pison it lay by her side, With a billet-dux a-stating 'twas by pison she died
He kiss'd her cold corpus a thousand times oe'r And call'd her his Dinah, though she was no more Then swallowed the pison, like a lovyer so brave And Vilikins and his Dinah lie both in one grave.
MORAL
Now all you young maidens take a warning by her. Never not by no means disobey your governor. And all you young fellows mind who you clap eyes on, Think of Vilikins and Dinah, and the cup of cold pison. For stage performances, two added verses describe how Villikins and Dinah reappear as ghosts and haunt her father.
Cultural influence
America
By March 1855, the song was already highly popular in New York.New York Times, 26 March 1855:'BURTON'S THEATRE. – ...The inimitable "Villikins and his Dinah" will be given in the afterpiece.'