"Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow Wow" is a song written in 1892 by prolific English songwriter Joseph Tabrar

Joseph Tabrar

Joseph Tabrar was one of the most famous songwriters of British music hall , probably most famous for the song "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow" ....

.

It was written for, and first performed in 1892 by, Vesta Victoria

Vesta Victoria

Vesta Victoria was an English music hall singer and comedian. Although born in Leeds, Yorkshire, Vesta adopted a Cockney persona on stage...

 at the South London Palace, holding a kitten. The same year it was recorded by Silas Leachman for the North American Phonograph Co. of Chicago (Talking Machine Company of Chicago/Chicago Talking Machine). In 1895 Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...

 painted May Belfort singing it. The comedian Arthur Roberts

Arthur Roberts

Arthur Roberts was an English comedian, music hall entertainer and actor. He was famous for portraying the pantomime dames and later for his comic characters and "gagging" in farces, burlesques and musical comedies....

 also had success in the 1890s with the song.

The song featured in the 1934 musical movie Evergreen

Evergreen (film)

Evergreen is a 1934 Gaumont British musical film, starring Jessie Matthews as a music hall singer, based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews. Matthews had a dual role as both mother and daughter....

, sung by Jessie Matthews

Jessie Matthews

Jessie Matthews, OBE was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.-Early life:...

, and was also revived after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The chorus was sung by Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

 and Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers

Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

 in the 1980 movie The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu

‎The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu is a 1980 comedy film, notable as the final film of Peter Sellers, David Tomlinson and John Le Mesurier. Pre-production began with Richard Quine as director. By the time the film entered production, Piers Haggard had replaced him. Peter Sellers handled the...

. It's also the tune Sarah Jane Smith whistles when she leaves the Doctor at the end of the Doctor Who episode "The Hand of Fear".

On CD

• A version of Vesta singing the song can be found on the CD 60 Old-Time Variety Songs (ISBN 0-86175-008-X)
• It also appears on the Ultimate Pub Sing-A-Long
  Pub song
  In English popular culture, the "traditional" pub songs typified by the Cockney "knees up" mostly come from the classics of the music hall, along with numbers from film, the stage and other forms of popular music....
  
   Album

Lyrics

I love my little cat, I do

With soft black silky hair

It comes with me each day to school

And sits upon the chair

When teacher says "why do you bring

That little pet of yours?"

I tell her that I bring my cat

Along with me because


Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

! bow wow!

Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow! bow wow!

I've got a little cat

And I'm very fond of that

But I'd rather have a bow-wow

Wow, wow, wow, wow


We used to have two tiny dogs

Such pretty little dears

But daddy sold 'em 'cause they used

To bite each other's ears

I cried all day, at eight each night

Papa sent me to bed

When Ma came home and wiped my eyes

I cried again and said


Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow! bow wow!

Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow! bow wow!

I've got a little cat

And I'm very fond of that

But I'd rather have a bow-wow

Wow, wow, wow, wow


I'll be so glad when I get old

To do just as I "likes"

I'll keep a parrot and at least

A half a dozen tykes

And when I've got a tiny pet

I'll kiss the little thing

Then put it in its little cot

And on to it I'll sing


Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow! bow wow!

Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow! bow wow!

I've got a little cat

And I'm very fond of that

But I'd rather have a bow-wow

Wow, wow, wow, wow